Parenting can be difficult but it has the potential of being one of the most rewarding things you will do in life. On the weekends at Alive Church we have been in a talk series called Parenthood. This coming weekend I will be wrapping up this talk series with a talk called “Now What”, as we take a look at the pain of having a prodigal child and how we reach them.

Train Our Children:

So far in this series we have looked at the priority we have as parents; To Transition a child’s trust from parents to God. That’s faith is caught more than taught and how we need to love God and lead our families. We said there are 7 specific areas that Proverbs tells us to specifically train our children:

1.  How To Manage God’s Mone     2.  How To Carefully Select Friends      3. How To Watch Their Words    4.  How To Be Responsible    5  How To Guard Their Thoughts   6. How To Be Generous      7.   How To Put Their Faith In God

Parent’s Priority:

Then we talked about how Children are a gift and a reward from God in A Parent’s Priority. We said that because children are a gift from God there are 6 things we need to do:

1. Demonstrate And Communicate Genuine Interest In Them – through our time, touch and talk.
2. Love And Accept Them Unconditionally
3. Set Boundaries by Explaining the Why Behind The What and by Having Clearly Defined Consequences
4. Meet My Children’s Essential Needs
5. Pass Along My Faith by Allowing Them To See Your Values & Faith At Work and by Showing Them The Rewards And Consequences
6. Teach Them To Walk In Wisdom

Discipline:

Last weekend we talked about discipline. Discipline is a practice that makes punishment unnecessary. We said that we discipline for preparation and for correction. There are 5 things we do to make that happen;

1. Be Clear With Expectation For First Time And Cheerful Obedience.
2. Be Discipline Enough Yourself To Never Discipline In Anger
3. Be Committed To Discipline Promptly With Instruction and Reconciliation
4. Be On The Same Page With Your Spouse
5. Be Careful To Wisely Pick Your Battles

Now What?

What do you do when you have a child who is wasting their life? A prodigal? We are going to look at the truth about a prodigal and what we can do this weekend at Alive Church during the weekend talk. Invite some friends to join you this weekend at Alive for the wrap-up of Parenthood. If this series has helped you it will help your friends and they will be glad that you invited them! Saturday at 5pm or Sunday at 9:30 or 11:00 am. After this talk you will have a better understanding of a prodigal and how to reach them.