The Gospel For Real Life
» 28-05-2009 | Grace Applied
» 15-05-2009 | Don't Waste The Delay
» 05-02-2009 | The Qualification of a gospel preacher
» 31-01-2009 | The Kingdom of self vs. The Kingdom of God
» 31-12-2008 | Bible Reading for 2009
» 06-11-2008 | Kids...who'd 'ave 'em?
» 01-11-2008 | Who are you?
» 27-10-2008 | ESV Study Bible
» 24-10-2008 | Interview with Wendy Alsup
» 23-10-2008 | Gospel-centred Parenting
» 11-10-2008 | Hard Words For Hurting People
» 07-10-2008 | The Posture of Prayer
» 01-10-2008 | God-reliance!
» 30-09-2008 | The Discipline of Treasuring Christ
» 27-09-2008 | A Miracle of Grace
» 24-09-2008 | The World's Most Shockingly Scandalous and Glorious Story!
» 17-09-2008 | Intimacy
» 15-09-2008 | Your identity is not in your suffering
» 17-06-2008 | Heaven
» 01-06-2008 | Dad's and Summer holidays (Part 3)
» 28-05-2008 | Dads and Summer Holidays (Thoughts from CJ Mahaney)
» 28-05-2008 | Dads and Summer Holidays (Continued)
» 22-05-2008 | "Where Is Your God?"
» 23-03-2008 | Jesus Is Alive
» 07-01-2008 | New Year's Resolutions?
» 12-12-2007 | The Gospel and Suffering
» 08-11-2007 | Religion verses The Gospel
» 08-11-2007 | What Is a Gospel-Centered/Missional Church...
» 07-11-2007 | No Rest For The Wicked!
» 08-10-2007 | Work: A Holy Calling

September, 2010

March, 2010
08 Are You Gospel-Shaped, or Just Religious?
05 Can Christians Drink Alcohol? (A Biblical Response From the Pastors of SGCM)

February, 2010
26 Newspaper Article
25 Beer and Bible

May, 2009
28 Grace Applied
25 Get a New Addiction
15 Don't Waste The Delay

March, 2009
19 "Certain young men..."

February, 2009
25 The Reformed Culture
18 Revival begins with humility
14 The Core Issue
14 The Health of Your Souls
05 The Qualification of a gospel preacher

January, 2009
31 The Kingdom of self vs. The Kingdom of God
30 Bound For Glory
23 Intensifying Desires
22 The Gale of the Spirit
10 Eternal Youthfulness
03 It Is Finished!
01 This much O Lord we want you!

December, 2008
31 Bible Reading for 2009
30 What do you hope for in 2009?
27 Post-Christmas Blues:
19 The Substance Behind the Shadows
17 Amazed Again
05 A Divine Gift

November, 2008
26 Feeling Sorry For Yourself
25 Why be in a Local Church?
18 The Gospel and Family
13 The Prodigal God
07 Billy Graham at 90
06 Kids...who'd 'ave 'em?
06 What the Gospel Does
01 Who are you?

October, 2008
27 ESV Study Bible
24 Interview with Wendy Alsup
23 Gospel-centred Parenting
22 The Problem of Bad Bible Teachers
11 Hard Words For Hurting People
11 Merthyr Produces Some Of The Finest
07 The Posture of Prayer
01 God-reliance!

September, 2008
30 The Discipline of Treasuring Christ
29 Practical theology for Women
29 The Essence of Sin
27 A Miracle of Grace
26 Keep Yourself Satisfied in God
26 How Passionate Are Your Praises?
24 The World's Most Shockingly Scandalous and Glorious Story!
23 Thirsting
22 Monday Morning Awe
17 Intimacy
15 Are you believing in yourself?
15 Your identity is not in your suffering
04 The Gospel Produces Hope

August, 2008
14 Why is there fighting in Georgia?
14 Impressive China?
14 What Tony does in his spare time!!

June, 2008
20 The Happiest Man In The World
19 Hanging with the guys!
19 Humility displayed through lopsided love
19 CJ's 8 most recommended books
18 Spurgeon quote from Sunday's Message
17 Heaven
01 Dad's and Summer holidays (Part 3)
01 T4G Session 3
01 Free ebook!!

May, 2008
29 Maria Sue Chapman Memorial Service
28 Dads and Summer Holidays (Thoughts from CJ Mahaney)
28 Dads and Summer Holidays (Continued)
22 "Where Is Your God?"
09 John Wesley's Accountability Questions

April, 2008
30 T4G Session 2
30 Singing at T4G
25 The Absolute Importance Of Doctrine
24 A Small Mind's Struggle For Retention
23 "Come and See" or "Go and Tell"?
22 Go On Being Filled With The Spirit!
18 America Trip (Final Part???)
15 America Trip (Part 2)
14 America Trip (Part 1)
10 C S Lewis on "5 Tips For Clear Writing"...and talking!

March, 2008
26 The Work of The Spirit in Seattle
25 Taking the Plunge of Grace
23 Jesus Is Alive
22 From A Desert To A Glorious Kingdom
19 Tim Keller @ Google
12 Great Worship Resources Going Cheap!
08 Motivation to Worship
06 The Reason For God - Book Review by Tim Challies
06 7 Characteristics of an Ingrown Church
03 The Reason For God "Doubting Your Doubts"

February, 2008
18 Tim Keller and The Reason For God

January, 2008
07 New Year's Resolutions?

December, 2007
24 Favourite Christmas Films - the Result!!
18 Richard Dawkins ... a Cultural Christian!!
14 Favourite Christmas Films
12 The Gospel and Suffering
05 The Unmarried Woman WIth Lots of Husbands

November, 2007
27 The Truth of Fantasy
23 Free Jonathan Edwards Classic
23 We’re Loving Merthyr! (Update)
22 A Nation in Mourning ... Why?
20 The Good Shepherd
15 Lest we forget…
12 We’re Loving Merthyr!
08 Religion verses The Gospel
08 What Is a Gospel-Centered/Missional Church...
07 No Rest For The Wicked!

October, 2007
29 Advertisers sure know how to grab our attention
15 Praying About Praying
08 Work: A Holy Calling
01 Baby Dedications

November, 0000
00
00 Summer Holidays
00 Summer Holidays
00 Summer Holidays
00 Summer Holidays

Gospel-centred Parenting
23-10-2008 | SGCM Blog | Gospel | The Gospel For Real Life »
A few weeks ago we took a day out to consider how the gospel connected to and impacted our parenting. One of the values that I love most about the Sovereign Grace family of churches is the way that they are constantly looking at how the central truth of the gospel connects to all of life.

Here is a good example of how one individual was able to respond to some recent teaching in this area:

"You can have all the godly parenting goals you want, but how do you deal with the gap between where you want to be and where you actually are?

Our kids don't have to be very old before they realize the gaps between what we are telling them to be and what we really are. They can see our inconsistencies and pick out the holes in our logic very early on. Recently at a teaching session on parenting I picked up 3 main ideas of dealing with this gap.

1) Be co-combatants against sin and Satan with our children.

We must identify with them in their temptation. Their sin issues may manifest themselves in different ways, but we struggle with the same temptations they do. We've just learned to manage ours better. How have you been tempted to act out in selfishness or anger or frustration? How do you deal with Jesus when you are tempted? Which leads to the next point.

2) Apologise in front of your children and to your children.

Ask their forgiveness. They are aware of our sin and most certainly aware of our hypocrisy when we refuse to deal with our sin in front of them.

3) Finally, let your children see you fumbling toward Christ.

I loved the wording the pastor used--"fumbling toward Christ"--because that is EXACTLY how I feel sometimes. I'm running, tripping, falling down, and getting up in my walk with God. I try to hide my weakness from my children, but instead, I should model honestly my walk with God before them.

I have a good friend who shared with me how her mother struggled after coming to Christ out of a hard background. This mother felt a constant failure with her kids. My friend said she constantly preached the gospel to herself in front of her kids and what an impact that made on this friend. It wasn't that her mother had it all together. Instead, she had her fair share of failures. But she fumbled her way to Christ, preaching the good news of the cross to herself in each failure, IN FRONT OF HER CHILDREN. And that made the difference.

I have much more to learn on parenting, but I feel like I have a much stronger foundation after hearing this teaching.
Gareth Lloyd