The followings are the sermon of Pastor Letlal Haokip, Kuki Worship Service Delhi (KWSD) Pastor on the topic Christian Parenting.
At the outset, Pastor Letlal thanked the Pastor of EBCC Delhi for giving him time to share on the topic of Christian Parenting. He feels enjoying and impress the way how worship service is conducted.
Before he start the Sermon, he requested his two children, Mr. Kamminthang & Ms. Vahneinem to pronounce Bible verses : Psalms 23 and Exodus 20:1-10.
As we often says, 'youths are the future leader'. Yet, the Pastor opined that, 'Children are the future leader'. Children are very receptive. Even they are well versed with all technological gadgets. From Brain Meyer research, it is known that 85% of well known Christian leaders accept Christ in between 4 - 14 years.
One of the Pastor's regretted is, he didn't attend Sunday School in his childhood days. Parents should take active part in leading their children to God. They should ensure that their children attend Sunday School. Sunday School is important for the Child's spiritual, mental, physical, economical and social development and growth.
"And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." - Malaki 4:6.
Proverb 22:6
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
From this Bible verse, two points ought to be noted:
- Command : To train up a child in the way he should go, and
- Promise : when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Psalm 121:1-2
"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth." It is from God Almighty who made heaven and earth that our help comes from. Although, our parents are not well educated, yet they know God and follow the command. Because of this, we could stay in Delhi for studying and working.
Upon turning to the Command, we finds three points :-
- The Concept of training
In general, our way of training is very discipline. But, one point need to be looked at is dedication. Dedication is the most important in training a child as is seen in the Bible: Deuteronomy 20:5, I King 8:63 and I Chronicle 7:5. In Church, God's priest/Pastor conduct child dedication to the Lord. Our sons are not ours, they are God's, we are just the shepherd. In the judgement day, we will be question the way how we disciplined our children.
Many people are like Martha as we see in the Bible. Working for the Lord is not a guarantee to heaven; however, by reading more of the Bible and praying, like Mary, we will get into the Kingdom. Praying for our children is important. We should pray for them before they go to school and to office. We should try to deliver out our children from all adversaries. - Instruction
Children should be taught God's words properly. This is the great commission shoulder upon us. We should give instruction to be well attentive in Church and advice them to spend their life in a good way. However, we should first discipline ourself first before giving instruction to our children. Motivating the child for their good is important. The world's powerful person, US President Barack Obama, for want of spending time with his daughter, applied for the post of basketball coach in his daughter school for he want to spend life with his daughter. - Recipient of training a child
We should train a child when he/she is with us. We need the confidence for such training. Disciplining children and planning for their career is what ought to be done. To organise such training, we should train ourself first. We have to know that, Children are the future leaders.
Concept of training
"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it"
In a song, we finds, 'A happy family life is like heaven'. To train up a child, we should keep priority to God. After that, God's created beings, viz., Pastor, School counsellor, etc. can be approached.
If the command has been kept, the promise can be clear. The promise include time utilisation when a child is old/independent, no longer economically dependent on parent, referring to the time when he leave home. If the command has been kept, the promise i.e., he will not depart from it, will be realised; if the command is not kept, the promise will not be realised.
Our parents follow the command and with prayer, so, the promise of the Lord is upon us. Commit your hearts to the Lord (Proverb 16:3). Our first mission field is our family. We should make a healthy family, after that, God will be happy and also our nation and ourself. An important thing to know is that, we should keep God Almighty priority in our life.
P. Chinliankhup
Content Writer, Media Team
