It has been an interesting and fun week and this coming Lord’s Day ought to be interesting and fun as well! We have been doing Vacation Bible School all this week and it has been a fun time. We have had a smaller than usual number of children, but we have had the most adult helpers ever.

Thanks to everyone who has worked and/or provided resources for this great event!

Our VBS “Family Day” is being held on this coming Sunday instead of Friday. This is the same pattern we followed last year. Doing this on Sunday accomplishes three helpful goals:

1) It gets the kids and their parents here on a Sunday to see our facility and meet the Church!

2) It allows nearly all of our members to see the workers, kids, and their family; which gives them a much better idea of what we do in VBS and how dramatically it can impact our community!

3) It makes for a really fun Sunday…  We will see and “hear” the kids and learn lots about all that they did and learned this week. We will get to meet them and their family. AND, we are going to end the day with a cookout at church to have some time to get to know them even better!

As the Lord allows, I will continue my sermon series entitled, “Marriage Matters” with a message from Ephesians 5:22-6:4 on the subject, “Five Essentials for Successful Parenting.” Hopefully, it will be a blessing to all of you and our guests as well.

People have very different ideas about what a successful parent is, so I want to use these verses to give biblical principles and application to answer that question.

There are, of course, many decisions and actions by the parents that make it either easier or more difficult to succeed as a parent. God has a clear pattern for family life, but, even those who do not achieve God’s standard can make the best of their situation and work together to be the best possible parents.

Single adults can, and often do, accomplish God’s highest standard for raising children. It is much harder to do it alone, but many people do!

Sadly, there are some children who are determined to destroy themselves and any hope of building a good life. This happens in even very good families. We will look at three of God’s choice servants in the Bible whose children brought disaster upon their own life.

In fact, the Bible clearly reveals that there has only been One Perfect Father, and all of His children ultimately rebelled against Him!

Think about these questions from our text:

According to Ephesians 5:32, to whom is this instruction given?

According to 5:25-31, 33 and 6:4, what does successful parenting demand of Dad?

According to 5:22-24 and 33, what does successful parenting demand of Mom?

According to 6:1-3, what does it require of the children?

I hope to see you Sunday Morning with your Bible in your hand, a smile on your face, and family and friends by your side!