One of the most challenging responsibilities of every parent. is properly disciplining our children. How do you walk that tightrope of not being a Hard drill sergeant demanding with no understanding. or being so passive and loving and caring that they don't have the boundaries that they desperately need. Today we're going to talk about two words.
to help you be the parent that God wants you to be. Thank you for being with us for this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Chip serves as our Bible teacher for this global teaching and discipleship ministry, helping Christians develop an authentic faith.
Well, in this program, Chip picks up where he left off with the insightful second half of his talk, How to Discipline Your Child Effectively. And like last time, he has a lot to teach us about this vital, vital topic.
So I hope you have your notes and Bible ready as we join him now to continue our series, Uninvited Guests. Jot, if you would, first John. Chapter 2 verses 1 and 2. Just all I want you to do is get this principle. The apostle is writing to this young church.
He says, I've written to you, my dear children. in order that you might not sin. But if you do sin, knowing they will, we have an advocate. Jesus Christ the righteous. We have an advocate with the Father.
Advocate just means we have a lawyer. We have someone pleading our case. We have an advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sin. Propitiation is one of those really big biblical words that means he absorbed the just wrath of God. And then it goes on to say, but not only for us.
Believers. But for the whole world.
Now, theologically, there are some people who say, I don't want the free gift, I'll take the punishment. I don't want the free gift, I don't want what Christ has done, and God says, Thy will be done. It doesn't force it on anyone. But if you can understand That's how your Heavenly Father deals with you. He doesn't punish you.
He's not down on you. That's been covered. It's been atoned for. His heart's desire.
Now, the discipline may get more and more and more severe if you don't listen, and you may have to cause the discipline for your kids to be more and more and more severe until it gets their attention. But it comes from a different heart. Does that make sense? See, the reason why you have a lot of conflict and you feel bad and you feel guilty, and kids withdraw and they rebel, is they need to know and feel your love, even when you're disciplining them, because you're not punishing them. It's not, I'm gonna pay you back.
It's not out of anger.
Now then the $64,000 question is how?
Well, what did we learn? How does God do it? Through consistent consequences, actions. Anne? clear instruction.
And so I want to go over those two things and give you some very practical tools. about how to do that with your kids. Consistent consequences go something like this. Proverbs 13:24 says, He who spares his rod. hates his son.
but he who loves him disciplines him diligently. Think of that. If you spare the rod, consistent action, not talk. You hate your child. Why?
Because you God says if you loved him you would give him what he needs instead of what he wants He goes on to say, folly is bound up in the heart of a child. Every kid's like this. But the rod of discipline, action, We'll drive it far from him.
Now, I'm going to do something, and this will be: can I just go on record real quickly here? Will you please lean back? Take a nice deep breath. For the next five minutes, I will be as radically, politically incorrect of anything you've heard in the last 30 days, maybe more. I'm going to describe what the rod is.
I'm going to describe what it means when biblical quote spanking. I will give you some research on that when I get done about from psychologists, the American Psychological Association. that will instruct you very clearly about the non-negative impacts when done biblically. But you are living in a world where many of your kids do not obey. and you have arguments and it's time out and there's this and there's that and God has provided a way, especially if you start young, to help your children obey and learn obedience that gets down into their soul that's very helpful.
Now You can totally choose to say, that's not a practice that will be good for me. All I'm saying is, We are so afraid to talk about this. We have parents out on islands struggling with their children, and by and large, creating huge psychological damage. Because of the yelling and the screaming and all the things that happen that your kids aren't getting.
So I'm going to tell you what the biblical rod or spanking looks like. You evaluate, you can hear the research, then you can do whatever God leads you to do. Number one, whenever you feel like this is important, you give them a clear warning. A child should never be pulled out of a booth, and you never use your hand, by the way. It should never be, when is this coming?
And my Nazi, crazy parent out of the blue, is blowing up in anger. They need to know. And by the way, the small little windows, this isn't for every little offense. This is when you draw a line in the sand. And your son or your daughter steps up and goes No, I'm not doing that.
And by the way, it starts early.
So there are times when it's really clear: do not, do not do this. There's been a clear warning. And you're concerned because you know if they do it, they'll get hurt. There's great damage. And you say, If that happens again, I want you to know.
When you're really testing who is the boss, That this is going to be the consequence. There's a clear warning. Second, you establish responsibility.
So I'll give you a real life example. I have many of them, but this is just one. My kids were in that five to six, seven age group. They had friends. The parents were about three doors down.
The son was at our house all the time. This is not an exaggeration. He'd been through three or four marriages. She had been through three. They had both alcohol and drug problems.
They had a mixed group, which I really understood of all different ages. The older boys had people over drugs, alcohol, violence. And I told my little boys, Michael can come over here anytime. He can be a part of our family. He can eat.
You can Parents are gone all during the day, can never go in that house. I mean, we we made friends. We actually, the mom and dad both came to Christ about three years later. But I mean, you know, it was just like here at the bar is like this, and this is like this. I mean, and everything went on.
And so, of course, this, I don't know how God works this. We're driving by, and I watch my kids come out of the house. And so clear warning, okay, look. Do you understand? If I catch you going over to that house again.
you will get a spanking. Eye contact. Do you get that? Yes.
Well, you know, two days later, same thing. They do it.
So here's, I did not when I caught them the second time. They know what's going to happen. They're going to get it spanking. Of course, am I angry? Yes, but I get under control.
I did not ask them, why did you do that? You ever hear yourself saying, Why did you do that? Why did you go with those friends? Why did you do that? I told you not to.
Why did you go to that movie? Why did you spend that money? Why did you take the car without permission? Why, why, why? I'll tell you why, because they're sinners.
Like you! Why do you mess up? Why do you do stupid stuff? Why do you lie? Because you're a sinner.
That doesn't help anything. I mean, if you want to shame him, why, why, why? What's wrong with you? What do you expect in your seven-year-old?
Well, I was born in Adam, and I think, you know, I've inherited sin, and I've not yet understood the propitiation of Christ, and I'm really not up on the sanctification process, and because of that, I'm not renewing my mind at the level that allows me to. Are you kidding me? But here's important. What did you do wrong?
Well, I just, you know, the other kids were doing it, and I just, no, no, no, no. What did you do wrong?
Well, I didn't mean to do it, and it was Jason. He wanted to go, and I wanted to. Stop. What did you row? I went in the house, you told me not to.
What do we call that? disobedience. Your kids have got to own it. I mean, I see parents doing all this stuff. The kid does this, the kid does this, go tell him you're sorry.
About what? I'm sorry, I guess it's over. What you want to do is you want to teach what did they do wrong. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. And before he continues our new series, Uninvited Guests, I want to remind you that all of our efforts to strengthen couples and parents are only possible because of listeners like you.
In fact, let me encourage you to keep listening after to day's message, as Chip shares more of his heart for preserving the family, and why now is a great time to partner with us in this work. Be sure to stick around. But for now let's rejoin Chip for the rest of his talk. Third. Avoid embarrassment.
Don't ever do this publicly. Don't do it out in the living room. This is a private moment, either in your bedroom, their bedroom, away from the crowd. 4. Communicate grief.
See, this is why I wanted to teach you the theology of discipline instead of punishment. In other words, you're not an out-of-control parent.
Now, many times I've told my kids, you can't believe how angry I am right now. But here's the core of my anger. I feel so betrayed. I love you. I trust you.
We hang out. We do all kind of things. When I tell you something, and you tell me something, I'm your dad. I'm for you. And w and when And you know what?
It's not all bad. In fact, it's not bad at all, but if they see you kind of well up or see a tear in your eye, you broke my heart. Sin is not primarily about behavior, people. Sin is not, and your kids' outcomes are not, they do this, they don't do that, they do this, they'll come out okay. Sin is always primarily a relational issue.
You want them to learn they betrayed your trust, they broke your heart. Because what you want them to learn later, and what you need to understand when you lie and when you cheat, and when you log on, or when you are tempted to do things. This isn't about how close can I get to some line. You're breaking your father's heart. You betray your father.
The one who loves you, the one who sent a son, the one who has your best. And so you want to communicate genuine grief. Because you want it to be a relational issue. And then I I brought my little, you know, from about, you know, You'll have to choose, but somewhere around Two or three or somewhere they get old enough where they No. And they draw a line in the sand.
And um You never, this, this, you know what this is for? loving, touching, caring. Praying. and nurturing. This This never, ever strikes your child anywhere on their body for any reason.
Well, I have to do it right now, you know? This is a rod. It's a little wooden spoon. It's extraordinarily effective. And I want to show you how to do it.
I'm not joking with you. Because I've seen people that get angry, you don't do that. Every human being, especially children, have something here. It's called adipose tissue. It's a fancy way for saying fat.
Here's your goal. You flick the wrist. This will produce an amazing level of sting. It does absolutely no damage. You want it to hurt.
It produces in kids up through about, depending on their size and ability, up through about 10 years old or somewhere in there, it produces a level of, oh, I don't ever want that to happen again. Which is what you want. And it's immediate. And then you want them to experience sincere repentance. The earlier you start, the better.
And so when my kids were, you know, four or five, and even older, we would go through this process and when they're crying now. And I would usually sit on the floor. And I'd have them on my lap. And I just let them cry. I want him to know, I'm here, my arms around you.
You did what was wrong. You owned up to it. This is what happens. I'm for you. I don't know about you.
I've cried in God's presence. I've cried in God's presence when I've done really stupid... or sinful things. David cried in God's presence. And then they cry for a while and then they kind of get calmed down.
And then sincere repentance, I said, well, Are you ready to talk to God? And when they were small, I coached them so they learned how. Yeah, Daddy, I'm ready.
So, what do you say to God? I'm a bad person. No, you're not a bad person, son. You're not a bad person. You're special.
God loves you. What did you do? I went in the house when you told me not to.
Okay. Why don't you Tell God. God, I'm sorry for going to the house, but Daddy told me not to. I disobeyed.
Okay. Well? Why don't you tell him you're sorry? I'm sorry God. Is there someone else you need to apologize to?
Uh Yeah. You? Yeah, that's right.
Okay. I'm sorry, Dad. Oh, honey, I forgive you. And I put my arms around him and I teach him. Lord, I thank you that whenever we break your heart by doing what's wrong, that like It's a mark on a chalkboard.
And the moment we come from our heart and ask you to forgive us, you absolutely erase it and love us. Amen. And then we would get up together. And I usually tried to do something very positive. Let's go play horse.
I want them to know. You're not rejected. That's That's biblical spanking. That's the rod. But what's happened in our day?
I've got an interesting article by a psychologist in Chicago. and it's called The Killer Narcissist and I won't read it, but The essence of the article is, why do we have wanton killings in schools? And the politically correct answer is because of these desperate underprivileged homes and all the difficult things they're going through. And then what she does is she goes, well, actually, if you look at Littleton, if you look at what happened in Pennsylvania, and she goes through all the different ones, and none of them fit the profile. It's upwardly mobile.
White suburbs largely. of affluent kids. Whose parents have given them everything. And she says, What happens is the movement of a narcissist. to a radical killer is very small in the teenage years.
And when you raise kids who think the whole world revolves around them and they don't get their way, they feel very hurt because they don't get the esteem, the entitlement, and life works for me, and it creates rage. And all the kids she goes through are of parents, educated, gave them everything. We're producing Narcissist. Every kid doesn't need a trophy. Every kid doesn't need to know that the whole world revolves around them.
We don't go out to eat where our kids want. We don't make decisions around all our kids all the time. What you create is an expectation that the world revolves around them and they're going to find out the world doesn't and when they do. Really bad things happen. It's a complete lack of discipline.
But it takes being a jerk sometimes. And what I can tell you is when you start very early, this is one.
Now, if a timeout works, great. If this works great. But this is a biblical way. to help your children and here's the difference. The difference is when it's done, it's done.
It's not 30 minutes. I told you to stand up. I told you to sit down.
Okay, a 10-minute timeout. You're grounded for three days. Five days. You're grounded till Jesus comes. And then, you know, I hang out in coffee shops, and you know, a couple high schoolers come in after school and backpacks and got the earphones.
Hey, how's it going, man? It's going pretty good. What's up? What's up with you? Oh, man, I'm grounded.
Oh, yeah. Oh, bummer, man. This is coming up. How long? They say two weeks, but I figure three days.
Your kids are really good students of you. Oh mom, the problem's coming up. I'm going to miss this. How could you do that? Don't you trust me?
You're being so hard on me. You don't really get it. All my other friends, and they go to church and their parents let them do this. And we have a generation of non-jerk parents. And you keep the peace.
And you will feel the pain. And God says, I love you too much, and I want you to love your kids too much. to let that happen. A lady wrote me, and I don't know whether it was a Small group material of the book. She goes, I recently.
shied away from spanking even though every other discipline for my seven-year-old has not worked. I've been exhausted with the confrontations and the drama associated with even the minor things in life. This message was the kick in the pants I needed to do what's right before God. Thank you. This morning, his attitude.
Was the same as normal. We had fights. He wouldn't do his schoolwork. He was argumentative, disrespectful, and disobedient. He was clearly challenging my authority.
So I breathed a helpful prayer. I asked him to come upstairs away from the little brother. I picked up the spoon along the way. Anyhow, the bottom line, no pun intended. Two quick stings later, he was sobbing and repenting in my arms and apologizing.
I held him. And then he said this. Mama I'm sure glad they make wooden spoons. The rest of the day has been peaceful. We prayed together, no arguments.
No disobedience. Thanks for the reminder that I need the courage. to discipline.
So you know what, your kids, their conscience needs cleansed. Your kids need to have a clean moment of You know, if it's ongoing, You're shaming them.
Now, I'm not saying that everyone should do this and it's not for every. I'm expecting like there's a level of common sense in this room. But you need to figure out when they challenge your authority and they cross the line. You need to really think. about what you do and if possibly these verses and Proverbs may be as true as all the other verses and Proverbs that we claim.
But these just happen to be unpopular.
Well, actions is one thing, but then words. Clear instructions or reproof. I gave you those two little Hebrew words out of Proverbs, and the second one had to do with very specific words. And so, four ways to use words to bring about correction. And by the way, we always start with words.
Just clarification, I didn't, I rarely spank my kids. I rarely had to. But If that is a clear expectation and they know that when you say this or say that, you actually mean it, you know, a lot of times it's son. And he looks at it, it's time to go. All it takes is...
Eric? You know what that means? Consequences are coming. Damn, he gets up. But it but there's never a line Your words don't mean much.
So number one, say no firmly.
Okay. Say no firmly. Here's what I see happen. And by the way, Everything I'm going to share, all these illustrations, like, oh, I do that, I can't believe I.
Well, where do you think I get them? This is our failure as parents over the years, okay? And so this is like, and I'll exaggerate just to make the quick point. You know, your daughter says, Can I do a sleepover with these three girls? And we're going to watch this movie, and I think it's really going to be great, and her parents are going to be home, and everything's going to be okay.
And immediately, you know, the three girls just got on Juvie. It's a triple X-rated movie. The houses aren't there, and both parents are drug addicts. And, okay, am I exaggerating enough? And inside, you're thinking, absolutely.
Absolutely not, right? You know, inside, no way. And here's your response. Oh honey, you know, I don't know. It just uh that doesn't really sound like a good And what do they hear?
There's a window. Right? Come on, mom. Don't you really trust me? I mean, everyone's gonna, I never get to do anything.
And, you know, I love Jesus, and maybe this is my chance to really help them. And come on, mom. And then it's like, well, honey, no, no, I just really don't think so. Your words are saying one thing. What's your tone of voice saying?
There's a window. So now it's, I can't believe it. You don't trust me at all. I can never do anything. Slam the doors.
And now you got drama. Say what you mean, say it clearly, say it firmly, and if you don't mean it, then don't say it.
So Same situation. She says that. You fill it in. And you stop. And if you're not sure, you say, ooh, you know what?
I need to pray about that. And if you're not a single parent, then you say, I need to talk with your father. This is a big decision. I'll let you know later. But if it's an absolute one, what you say is Did I hear you right?
Absolutely not. But mom, and then you give them this look. If you haven't worked on this, this means, oh, you are on dangerous ground. This is the look. But, mom, and you go.
And you know what that look means? There is no more discussion. And you know what? They accept it. Say no firmly.
You know, you ever go over To friends' houses, or they come to your house, and the kids really like each other, and they're really having fun. And so they're like running around and going nuts and going crazy, and you do stuff like this because you're with your friends. Hey, hey, hey, hey, kids, kids, kids. Stop running through here. Stop running through here.
You don't mean it at all.
So they run out, run out, and hey, how things go on? Zoom, zoom, they come through again. Toys are coming off. Hey, hey, I told you guys, slow down, stop in here. Do not run through the living room while we're talking.
You don't mean it at all.
Three minutes later, here they come again, right? And then pretty soon, like the number four time. You do something like this that embarrasses you in front of your friends. Hey. What in the blank did I say?
I said, stop right now. And then you realize: oh my, I am embarrassing myself, and this is not really a good moment. See, say what you mean. If you don't Hey. Stop.
I know you guys haven't seen each other and you really like each other. You can go outside right now, run all you want.
Okay, listen. If you run through here again, Seven minute timeout. And then eye contact. Do you understand? What are they gonna do?
They're going to run through one more time, correct?
So your game phase comes on, and boom, here they go. Stop. And hey, it takes time. You sit him down and hopefully the seven minute works. Say no firmly, second.
Clear warning of consequences. I tried to model that. Let them know. I mean, kids are kids. Let them be kids.
But warn them: this is going to happen if you don't do this or that, right? Give them a clear warning. And get there. Don't make a clear warning. Hey, if you do that again, you're going to be in trouble.
Shh. No, stop them. Look them in the eye. Third. Use contracts.
You know, they don't do their chores, they're disrespectful, they won't do their homework, they're hanging out with the wrong people. They beat up their brother or sister. Right? It's like they're not responsible, they won't do this. I mean, there's only like four or five major things that any kid messes up with.
And what happens, you get into these wars all the time. Stop the wars. When you're not upset, when it's not, they haven't done something wrong, it's like you have a good time, maybe it's after a meal, you go out for a coke, whatever you do, and then you come and you say, you know something, we've been battling one another. I love you too much. I remember sitting down and doing this, you know, this is just no fun.
I mean, I love you. You're so fun to be around. But we keep arguing about you. Don't do your schoolwork. Or, you know, my one son, you just keep beating up your brother every time we leave.
And the hole in the wall just is not really good. True story and um And so I said, okay, let's just list the things that are a problem on the left side. And then, you know, I've tried everything, it's not working.
So here's a column that says consequences that are negative. You tell me. If you do this. What negative consequence would really help you obey? What would help you learn?
And then, by the way, here's the next column: positive consequence. Like, if you really obeyed in that area for X amount of time, what would be a good perk? I mean, what would just say, hey, man, that's worth.
Okay, and we just went through the four or five things and I had him write it down. And I remember, he said, oh, well.
So, I was like grounded from basketball practice for two days.
Okay, we'll write that one down.
Okay, this is okay.
Well of course, now, by the way, any time you do this, they test it. You know why? They're like you. It's like Adam and Eve. Do not do this, okay, right?
It's part of the human condition. And so, of course, he wrote him down, I wrote him down, it's a contract. He does it? He's going to miss basketball practice, and then he's, Dad, you can't do this to me. I worked all summer, I lifted weights, I practiced, I finally made the first team.
I'm going to start next Friday night. If I miss these two practices, I won't start. How could you do this to me?
Now I'm very calm. Said, oh son, this is not, I'm not doing anything. This is the contract that we made, and I signed it here. And you signed it there. And you know something?
I'm so bummed out. I was so forward looking to you start. I just watched your hard work and... Boy, I am so sad. That This this is this is your contract.
You get to own your responsibility. Do you see the difference? Yeah.
So, you get out of this arguing drama, and I had a lady come up with three boys. They're the most wonderful boys, but she gave me her top three problems, or top three or four of everyone. Sit down, write a contract with them. And they were like, you know, teenagers, and one younger one. And they kind of look like, yeah, we'd do that.
But just sit down and use a contract. Finally, use consequences. I'll have now and then have someone say, Okay. You can't believe it. My daughter is completely out of control.
She doesn't come in at night. She's drinking. I know there's marijuana we found. She's dating a boy that is totally outside the bounds. She's 15 years old.
We don't know what to do. We've been to counseling. I'm powering. What do I do? And I'm not the greatest counselor at all, and that's why I don't do much of it.
And you all think I'm joking, I'm not. But here's my response. I said Oh wow, you're powerless? Yes, what can I do? I said, well, Um Like Does she drive at all?
Oh yeah.
So when fifteen sixteen, so she did she buy the car? No, it's ours. Oh.
Well, who pays for the gas? What we do. Who pays for the insurance? Oh.
What we do. Oh.
Wow. Um does she have a phone? Yeah, who pays for that? We do. Yeah.
And I just went through and I started asking her questions.
So you're powerless? Does she have an outside job to eat food in your house and does she rent the room? Uh no I said Ex excuse me. You hold all the cards. And Eliminate the drama.
Here's one or two very clear boundaries. The next time this happens, by the way, in fact, The car is gone. This has gone. We'll start with this one, and you just begin to re the velvet vice of love. And And you'd be the parent.
And by the way, I got to the point with one of my sons where I did all that, because some of you are thinking, well, they might just opt out. I got where 17 and a half years old, tears down my face and tears down his face. I wish you weren't a Christian dad. No rules. You can't tell me anything.
I said, And don't do this unless you've prayed it through, gotten good counsel from a counselor, and probably a pastor, and thought through. But you know, you've tried everything, and I remember sitting in front of the car. in front of my house said, you're destroying our marriage. You're destroying our home. You're 17 and a half years old.
If you're man enough now to get a job, find a place to live, and Figure out what you're going to do for food. then then I I can't teach you.
So you got 48 hours. You can either come, you don't have to believe anything I believe. You don't you don't But I will tell you this, either you come and have a good attitude and stop ruining our family. Or you find a place to live. And I wasn't bluffing.
And he knew it. Ass crying. Later, he came back and he said, You know, Dad, it wasn't all the discipline. He said, When you and mom cried, I realized how precious and real Jesus is to you. I went in my bedroom for 48 hours, realized A lot of it was just my pure rebellion.
And part of it was you push my buttons, Dad, and I push yours. But he said, God really spoke to me. He came out of the room, and I was just waiting for this, you know, the second shoe to drop. You know, like he was a manipulator. Seems like rebellious kids are very smart.
And uh And then we watched a complete change. I want to give parents hope here. God can do anything. Two of the three songs we sang. This kid wrote him.
And they're sun all over the world. My prayer wasn't he My prayer wasn't that he write songs. My prayer was, oh God, keep him out of the ditch. Oh God, help him not do something so stupid that he's going to ruin the rest of his life. But all I can do is set a boundary over here and say, you know what, in our house, you can't treat people that way.
And over here, no matter what you do, I'm going to love you. And is it hard? excruciatingly hard. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful, but after. They've been trained by it.
It yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness. On the back page, I've given you a game plan. It's pretty self-explanatory. It uh here's some pitfalls to avoid. I mean, we've all done these, right?
The screaming parent. They all talk, you know, you have a good talk or nagging, nagging, nagging that's not working. I just put this abusive parent. If you're striking your child or you're out of control, get help. The closed-lipped parent is just the passivity of you just think this is going to go away.
When you don't address stuff, your kid's heart... is telling him you don't care. And then finally, the light bulb parent is: you know, it's totally inconsistent. You know, this is really, really matters on Monday and on Friday, you don't care. The game plan is just simple.
Identify the top two behavior problems. Don't try and tackle everything. Just what are the top one or two things that are just making you crazy and making your kid crazy? And then honestly evaluate. I mean, go back to the first page and ask yourself, honestly, which one of those?
Where do I lean? Where do I need to address some issues? Many times when my kids were disobeying, what I realized was I wanted to blame them, the problem was me. I was inconsistent. I wasn't avoiding some of those pitfalls.
And then third, have a family conference. You sit down and Often you start it with You know something I uh I've not been the dad I needed to be. I either inconsistent or I didn't do this, but I want you to know. Here's the top two issues. Here's the plan.
Here's the consequences. I love you. This is how we're going to move forward. Then Strap it on, they will test you. And you need to win.
And then finally, sit down and set some goals together. and ask God to work in a powerful way. He will. There's hope. Bye.
You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and the message you just heard: how to discipline your child effectively, is from our series, Uninvited Guests. Chip will join us in studio to share some insights from today's talk in just a minute. We've all heard it said that raising kids isn't for the faint of heart. Every parent can attest that it can be deeply encouraging and life-giving one moment and want to pull out your hair frustrating the next. And those emotional ups and downs don't include the external challenges and pressures that kids, moms, and dads face every day.
For the past couple of messages, Chip highlighted biblical principles for moms and dads to navigate the complexities of raising kids in today's world. We hope you were encouraged and motivated wherever you are in your parenting journey. If you've missed any part of this series, catch up at livingontheedge.org or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Well, Chip's with me in studio now, and Chip, your mentor, Howard Hendricks, once said that the family is the cornerstone of society.
So what are we doing as a ministry to address all the chaos and dysfunction hurting families to day?
Well, Dave, really, the answer to that is pretty easy. When you see the discipleship deficit, it all begins with the family. And if families are going to be strong, that begins with a strong marriage of a husband and a wife who understand they're being bombarded each and every day with lies about what makes a great relationship. And so we've created some brand new resources that aren't a big book you have to read or a seminar you need to go to, but something to put on your nightstand that day by day it could really transform your thinking and as a result, your marriage. We're calling them Marriage That Works Truth Cards.
And during this series, we're doing something really radical. For those who choose to become monthly partners, we want to give you Marriage That Works truth cards as a way to say thanks.
So today, would you consider being a financial partner to help us to repair and to strengthen marriages? Great challenge, Chip. And please know how much we appreciate your sacrifice. Your regular support allows us to plan our next steps as a ministry and be ready to walk through doors that God opens for us. And as Chip said during this entire series, if you become a monthly financial partner of Living on the Edge, we'll send you our newest resource, the Marriage That Works truth cards, as our thank you.
Learn more by going to livingontheedge.org or by calling 888-333-6003. Again, that's 888-333-6003, or visit livingonthege.org. Applist Nurse Tap Donate.
Well, until next time, this is Dave Druy, saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.
