TLP 181: The All-Bible Family

National Family Day is here and AMBrewster wants to show Christian Parents the importance of having an All-Bible Family. He will also give seven suggestions for making that a reality in your home.

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Episode Notes

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Transcript

Introduction

Happy Family Day!​

Well, actually National Family Day is on the first Sunday of August, but I offer my best wishes nonetheless.

TeamTLP and I are ALL about the family. Whether it’s just you and your spouse, whether your child has not yet been born, whether you have a one child or ten, and whether your kids are out of the house or not, we celebrate your family and everything God wants for it.

We think Family Day is a great thing to celebrate, but like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter, we don’t think it should be relegated to a single day of the year.

But it never hurts to celebrate either.

So, today we’re going to talk about how to have the best family possible.

But before I do that, let me remind you that I wrote a free parenting course called “25 Days to Becoming a Premeditated Parent.” You can sign up for that course for free at TruthLoveParent.com under our Parenting Tools tab, or you can click the link below.

It’s a great course, and it’s significantly more robust than most imagine. 

By the way, if you’ve taken the course, but haven’t filled out the survey at the end of the course, I’d love for you to do that. You can also email TeamTLP@TruthLoveParent.com to give us your feedback on the course.

We have plans for many more “25 Day” parenting courses, but we need your feedback so we can make them as helpful as possible.

So, if you haven’t take the course, for what are you waiting? And if you have, please give us your feedback! Seriously, even if you hated it, we need to know. We want it to be a beneficial experience.

Okay, so what’s this whole All-Bible Family thing?

Topic

First, let me encourage you to further this celebration with episode 78. That was the first episode we did honor of National Family Day. It’s called, “What’s a Family Anyway?” It’s amazing what people think a family is, and it’s vital to know what God says it is.​

Alright, what is an All-Bible Family?

Let me start by telling you what it’s not.

There are people who believe that basically nothing in the Old Testament applies to Christians today.

There are those who believe that certain parts of the Bible were polluted or messed by men over the years.

There are those who believe that certain concepts in the Bible are strictly cultural and have no impact on the modern family.

There are those who believe that it’s good to know the Bible, but it’s not worth spending a ton of time studying.

There are those who believe that many parts of the Bible are exaggeration or allegory.

Now, let me be fair, some of the things I just said could be potentially true depending on how you mean them.

Dispensationalism is a biblical reality that keeps modern Christians from being required to keep all of the Levitical laws.

There were some uniquely cultural practices that we don’t have to continue today, but the practices that were commanded and never recanted should not be conveniently swept under the cultural rug.

There are allegories and figurative language in the Bible, but it’s always grammatically and linguistically clear when those devices are being used. Not everything that sounds supernatural is allegory — like the Creation of the world or the Resurrection of Christ.

All of those incorrect beliefs and others like them all have the same thing in common. They each deny that part or all of the Bible is God’s perfect Truth.

Whether it has been messed up by man or it’s no longer culturally relevant, those parts of the Bible no longer have value.

And, my friends, that could not be further from the Truth. Every word from “In the beginning” to “amen” and everything in between is there because it has value for the child of God. Not all of it may be prescriptive, and not all it may be as easy to interpret or apply, but it all has value.

Imagine it this way: every part of the Scripture that your family doesn’t know or chooses to ignore is like a missing limb from a body.

To deny the importance of the arm or an ear of one of the toes or the stomach would be hazardous, if not deadly.

Can someone survive if they don’t have ears that work? Of course. Can a person survive with no limbs? Yup.

But is that the kind of life you would choose for your children? Just because they could survive, are you going to opt for an amputation?

Well, we do the exact same thing when we choose to ignore certain Truths of Scripture or portions of the Bible.

We need it all.

If you want a spiritually healthy and vibrant family, you need to be an All-Bible Family.

So, what’s the best way to do that?

Here are some suggestions:

1. For your family members who can read, I recommend they read as much of the Bible as often as possible. 

Listen, my kids can read books for hours. It’s not that many children don’t like reading, it’s that they’d rather read something else. That shows the strength of their relationship with God and the state of their heart.

2. For those who can’t read, I recommend reading it to them. You can even go onto YouTube and listen to people narrate the entire Scripture from nearly any translation you can imagine.

Instead of Sesame Street droning in the background, why not have a portion of each day dedicated to the playing of Scripture?

There are New Testament books that can be read through in less than fifteen minutes. Proverbs can be read through in about an hour and half. And even if people aren’t actively paying attention to it, if you play Proverbs once every couple of days during quiet time, God’s Word will not return void.

3. Have a time of family focus on God. Call it devotions or family worship or whatever you want. But take time to make a big deal out of God.

4. Make church a priority. That shouldn’t surprise you coming out of our “Your Family Needs to Go to Church” series.

5. Increase your Parenting Bible. In episode 17, “The Sufficiency of Scripture in Parenting,” I introduced the concept of a Parenting Bible and how you can make yours bigger. Make sure you listen to that episode if you missed it.

6. In line with the Parenting Bible, just make it a habit to find your answers for life in Scripture — and don’t only ever turn to the Gospels or Proverbs or Psalms for the answers. 

Are those amazing books full of powerful Truth from God? Yes, but have you ever considered the amazing book of Jude. Right now, in church, we’re doing a six week study on the 24 verses in Jude. And — let me tell you — we could have taken a lot more time in it.

How about the book of Micah? What about Numbers? I know — that sounds exciting — but amidst the genealogies (which are powerful in their own right) there are necessary anecdotes and Truths that can have a powerful impact on your family. 

Are your kids struggling with their response to authority? Try turning to Numbers 12 or 16 for some lessons to live by. 

My point is simple, Christ-honoring Ambassador Parenting becomes even more valuable as you are able to more accurately be an Ambassador for even more of God’s Truth. The more accurately you can represent Him to your family, the better it will be for everyone, and the more God will be glorified in your home. 

And 7. Enjoy Bible centered entertainment like Patch the Pirate. I love the Patch the Pirate adventures. I know they’re mostly for younger children, but I grew up with them and still enjoyed listening to them as a teen and even now as an adult.

Conclusion

It wasn’t my goal to take a whole chunk of time today. I want you to go and spend as much time with your family as you can.​

But remember this — what does it profit a man if he has all the time in the world with His family, but doesn’t give His family the most important thing they need?

Please do me the great honor of sharing this episode.

And join us next time as we ask the question “What Are You Sowing?” Many of our families are daily reaping consternation, annoyance, anger, disrespect, and sadness. How does that happen?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you spent more time reaping joy and gratitude and love?

Next time we’re going to talk about one of the reasons there are so struggles in our homes.

I’d also like to invite you to consider accepting Ray and Carolyn’s invitation to click the “5 Ways to Support TLP” link below. Ray and Carolyn were TLP’s first Patrons. It’s due, in large part, to their faithful giving that we can do what we do.

Truth.Love.Parent. is a listener support ministry, and every gift helps. Please consider what part God may have you play.

And as part of that ministry, you can always get our free episode notes on our blog, Taking Back the Family.

And you can also get free counsel from our counseling team. Just send an email to  Counselor@TruthLoveParent.com, and we will do our best to shine as much of God’s Word as we can on your unique situation at no charge to you.

Your family is special and unique. And they have so much potential, but that potential can only be truly realized as it’s empowered and instructed by the entirety of Scripture.

Don’t hold anything back from your kids. Don’t amputate your family.

See you next time.