We Have An Important Assignment
Repetition (food)
Every morning I have a bowl of cereal, a banana, orange juice, and coffee.
I never say, “I already had breakfast this week, I don’t need breakfast today.”
We all need to refuel daily.
Even more importantly we all need to refuel our spiritual lives on a daily basis.
Matthew 4:4 (NLT)
But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,
‘People do not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Hebrews 4:12 (NLT)
For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
Psalm 16:11 (NLT)
You will show me the way of life,
granting me the joy of your presence
and the pleasures of living with you forever.
A healthy diet may sometimes be repetitious, but a healthy diet is always nourishing.
We have an important assignment.
God has given us, as teachers or parents, or both, the paramount responsibility of training children.
Proverbs 22:6 (NLT)
Direct your children onto the right path,
and when they are older, they will not leave it.
I want to share some reminders of what our assignment is all about. (This is something most of you are probably already doing.)
Four I’s
Important (Important assignment)
Intentional
Intriguing
Integrated
Important (Important assignment) – of great significance or value; likely to have a profound effect on success, survival, or well-being.
God uses you as a catalyst for life change. (God brings about life changes, you don’t.)
Take a look at the RDS scripture verses.
Our school verses are Psalm 78:4-7,
The short version.
“We will … tell … the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders he has done.” Verses 6 and 7 go on to say, “that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God.”
In context
Psalm 78:1-7 (NLT)
A psalm of Asaph.
1 O my people, listen to my instructions.
Open your ears to what I am saying,
2 for I will speak to you in a parable.
I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—
3 stories we have heard and known,
stories our ancestors handed down to us.
4 We will not hide these truths from our children;
we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the Lord,
about his power and his mighty wonders.
5 For he issued his laws to Jacob;
he gave his instructions to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children,
6 so the next generation might know them—
even the children not yet born—
and they in turn will teach their own children.
7 So each generation should set its hope anew on God,
not forgetting his glorious miracles
and obeying his commands.
What is your most important role as a teacher?
What is the most important role any of us have?
but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. Psalm 78:4
Intentional – deliberate, calculated, conscious, done on purpose, intended,
Tell how God is working through all of his creation.
Explain how God has created the earth, sea, and sky. Talk about flowers, trees, bugs, the sun, moon, and stars, the oceans ….
Tell how God has worked throughout history.
Old and New Testament Bible stories. (The Jesus Storybook Bible)
World history, especially the history of America.
Intriguing – arousing one’s curiosity or interest
Many of our presidents had a reverence for the Lord. I will mention four by name.
In a Thanksgiving Proclamation issued by President George Washington, at the request of Congress, on October 3, 1789, Washington stated, “It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor.”
John Adams, our second president stated, “The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”
In 1788, James Madison, our fourth president said, “The belief in God all powerful wise and good, is so essential to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of man, …
In God We Trust was first inscribed on U.S. coins in 1864 under President Lincoln (our 16th president).
Many founding fathers were “Big on Jesus”:
John Dickinson (signed the Constitution, served as governor of Pennsylvania and Delaware)
“Rendering thanks to my Creator for my existence and station among His works, for my birth in a country enlightened by the Gospel and enjoying freedom, and for all His other kindnesses, to Him I resign myself, humbly confiding in His goodness and in His mercy through Jesus Christ for the events of eternity.”
“Governments could not give the rights essential to happiness… We claim them from a higher source: from the King of kings, and Lord of all the earth.”
Samuel Adams (Signer of the Declaration of Independence, ratified the Constitution, and served as governor of Massachusetts).
“I . . . [rely] upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins.”
A Proclamation For a Day of Public Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer signed by Samuel Adams included the following: “the peaceful and glorious reign of our Divine Redeemer may be known and enjoyed throughout the whole family of mankind”; “we may with one heart and voice humbly implore His gracious and free pardon through Jesus Christ, supplicating His Divine aid . . . [and] above all to cause the religion of Jesus Christ, in its true spirit, to spread far and wide till the whole earth shall be filled with His glory”; with true contrition of heart to confess their sins to God and implore forgiveness through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior.”
Elias Boudinot (Served as President of Congress, signed the Peace Treaty of Paris to end the War for Independence, framer of the Bill of Rights, and respondent to Thomas Paine’s The Age of Reason with The Age of Revelation).
“Let us enter on this important business under the idea that we are Christians on whom the eyes of the world are now turned… Let us earnestly call and beseech Him, for Christ’s sake, to preside in our councils. . . . We can only depend on the all-powerful influence of the Spirit of God, Whose Divine aid and assistance it becomes us as a Christian people most devoutly to implore. Therefore I move that some minister of the Gospel be requested to attend this Congress every morning . . . in order to open the meeting with prayer.”
Benjamin Franklin (Signed the Declaration of independence, attended the Constitutional Convention, signed the Constitution.)
“As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and His religion as He left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see.”
Other names we could mention:
Alexander Hamilton, John Hancock, Patrick Henry,
John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court,
George Mason, John Witherspoon,
These men were not necessarily Christians, but they did value Christian principles.
Tell them how God is working in your life. (All of these need to be age appropriate.)
Tell them how God is working in their lives.
*We are The Redeemer Day School, we exist to share the story of Redemption.
*Explain redemption.
An act of God, by which He Himself pays as a ransom the price of human sin, which has outraged His holiness.
To recover ownership of by paying a specified sum.
To set free; rescue or ransom.
To save from a state of sinfulness and its consequences.
To buy back
Redeemed
Redeemed–how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through His infinite mercy,
His child, and forever, I am.
Redemption in Scripture.
Revelation 5:9 (NLT)
And they sang a new song with these words:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and break its seals and open it.
For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
God paid a high price for you, … (1 Corinthians 7:23 NLT)
Romans 5:8 (NLT)
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Unearned – undeserved
Romans 6:23 (NLT)
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 1:7-8 (NLT)
7 He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. 8 He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.
5 For he issued his laws to Jacob;
he gave his instructions to Israel.
(This is different from verse 4)
Basic principles that govern our personal lives and relationships.
Biblical principles – Biblical truths
The Bible is God’s instruction manual – how to live our lives.
Scripture clearly teaches how Christians are to live.
God’s principles are permanent, unchanging, and universal in nature.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 New Living Translation (NLT)
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
Isaiah 48:17-18 New Living Translation (NLT)
17 This is what the Lord says—
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you what is good for you
and leads you along the paths you should follow.
18 Oh, that you had listened to my commands!
Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river
and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.
God provides principles for living in a way that protects from harmful thinking and behavior.
Instructions on how to live our lives.
Character qualities
Work at it with all of your heart …. Hard work
Character: obedience, virtue, diligence, discernment, dependability, compassion, kindness
that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children Psalm 78:6
Romans 10:14-15 (NLT)
14 But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?
15 And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”
Why tell this story?
3 reasons
Intentional – deliberate, calculated, conscious, done on purpose, intended,
so that they should set their hope in God
Where else can we set our hope?
In our government?
in other people?
in technology?
in institutions?
in education?
in jobs?
in the economy?
in our local church
and not forget the works of God,
Not forget the story of Redemption
Understand God’s plan of salvation.
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9 ESV)
but keep his commandments; Psalm 78:7
Help the next generation to understand that biblical principles really do work and are clearly for our benefit.
How do we do this?
Deuteronomy 6
5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today.
Here’s the assignment:
7 Repeat them again and again to your children.
7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, ESV
Spontaneous lessons are great,
but there also needs to be intentional instruction.
Intentional – deliberate, calculated, conscious, done on purpose, intended,
Family devotions are powerful. I remember my father reading scripture every night at the dinner table. I don’t remember the details of the scripture, I just remember that it was important.
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.
Integrated – to incorporate into a larger unit. We do not a spiritual life separate from our secular life.
Use repetition
Make use of the many opportunities you have throughout the day.
8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (NLT)
Visual aids
Plaque: As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.
How do we do this? This is a big assignment.
It starts with us.
We need the right relationship with God. We need to love God with every fiber of our being.
We need to be learning from God.
5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Deuteronomy 6:5-6
Psalm 86:11 (NLT)
Teach me your ways, O Lord,
that I may live according to your truth!
Grant me purity of heart,
so that I may honor you.
Psalm 19:14 (NLT)
May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
What an awesome responsibility.
Luke 6:40 (NLT)
Students are not greater than their teacher. But the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher.
A child is not above his parents, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his parents. (RL)
….will be like his parents….
….will be like you….
Four I’s
Important (Important assignment) – of great significance or value; likely to have a profound effect on success, survival, or well-being.
Intentional – deliberate, calculated, conscious, done on purpose, intended,
Integrated – to incorporate into a larger unit.
Not a spiritual life and a secular life.
Intriguing – arousing one’s curiosity or interest
A fifth “I”
Investment
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be, (Matt 6:19-21).
