Are you Listening?

Deuteronomy 6:4

As I am writing this blog, I am resting at home waiting for another exciting night at Vacation Bible School. It has been a great week. There have been many things that I have been thrilled to observe:

• 250+ children laughing, playing, and learning together.
• 100+ committed volunteers working diligently to make a high octane VBS run smoothly.
• The church has been being the church - serving, worshiping, loving, laughing, and being together.
• I have been absolutely thrilled to watch our kids and volunteers enjoying a long, hot week together celebrating the kingdom of God.

There have been other things, however, that I have been disappointed to observe:

• Parents dropping off their kids so they can spend some quiet time away from them.
• After having asked kids, “What are some real fear that you have?” I heard several children say that they are afraid of their parents.
• Tonight, at VBS, is Parents Night (7:30, in the auditorium). I wonder how many parents will be too busy to join their children for “Parent’s Night” one night of the week?

I read a blog and it reminded me how important it is that we, New Beginnings Church, maintain our focus on family ministry. Thank you, Jay Strother, for your reminder of how important it is to listen.

Deuteronomy 6:4-7 “Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One.

Deuteronomy 6:5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart.

Deuteronomy 6:7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

The setting in which these words were delivered was one of the great scenes of Scripture. God’s people are poised for conquest, camped within sight of the long-promised land. Moses, now a seasoned leader who knows his days are numbered, gathers the people to remind them one last time what matters most. Recalling their struggles, Moses shifts his focus from codes and rules. Moses, inspired by the very Spirit of God, gives the people a single command that sums up all the statutes and ordinances in a single sweeping statement. This command isn’t aimed only at the head; it aims for the heart too:

“Listen, Israel; the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart.”

This passage is saturated with key relational words: “Listen!” “Love!” “Heart!”

• Listen.
• Listen to the timeless word of God, for “many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it’s the Lord purpose that prevails” (Proverbs 19:21).
• Listen to Solomon instructing us to “train up a child according to the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). Could it be that God designed the home as the first and best “small group?”
• Listen to the Spirit-fueled words of Peter at Pentecost, who tells new believers that the promise of new life in Christ Jesus, the new covenant, is not just for them, but “for you and for your children” (Acts 2:39).
• Listen to single parents in forty percent of American homes who are struggling to pay the mortgage and to keep food on the table. Listen as they long for a compassionate church to surround their children with unconditional love.
• Listen to the parents who blindly accept the culture’s values for their children because the church hasn’t had the courage to teach them the truth.
• Listen to the parents who long to be spiritual leaders in their households but who have had no models-and who are spiritually intimidated by the so-called religious experts.
• Listen to studies that confirm our concern about the future of the Christian faith. Fewer individuals are affiliating themselves with any form of the Christian faith.
• Listen to the research that, despite several decades of innovation in providing a powerful church experiences for children and teenagers, young adults aren’t even able to articulate basic truths about the Christian faith.
• Listen to the growing chorus of children and student workers and ministers who are burning out beneath the weight of trying to do in the church what was designed to be done primarily in the home-disciple the next generation.
• Listen to the messages you are hearing, delivered daily by the parents, children, teenagers, community and church around you. Invite others to join you in praying and pondering.
• Listen to God speak. Then and only then will your plans line up with his.
• Listen.

VBS was a great experience. But we have so many more great things to look forward to. NBFamilies…the future is bright! The need is great. The Kingdom of God has come near! Listen!