Discussion Guide on September 6, 2009 Message

(To be discussed on September 13)

Message Title

“The Family Part 2” – Ephesians 6:1-4

Message Outline:

Baptist Faith and Message:  The Family - God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God's unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race. The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God's image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation. Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God's pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.

Big Idea:  There is a Godly way that parents and children should relate to each other.

I)                  Children, obey your parents (1-3).

II)               Parents, nurture your children (4-6).

Leading the Session Helps/Discussion Questions

v     Who is supposed to obey in verse 1? Why is it that the Children’s role in the family has been switched with the Parent’s?

v     Write these on the board and have members evaluate where they may have failed. Then allow a time of prayer to allow them to repent and resolved to make amends if possible.

o       How to exasperate your children:

v     Blame not Praise

v     Inconsistency

v     Showing favoritism

v     Not keeping promises

v     Making light of their problems

v     What is the one question little boys want to be answered? (Do I have what it takes?) How can fathers answer that?

v     What is the one question little boys want to be answered? (Am I beautiful?) How can fathers answer that?

v     Larry said that you can not be as good a parent as you could if you don’t forgive your own parents. Why would that be true?

Application

How did your father answer “the question” for you? How do you need to respond to the sermon? By forgiving your father? By reconnecting with your children? Resolve to do what God is leading you to do.