For dad only:
Father in the Son
God chose to reveal Himself as a Father in His own Son. He did not do this to pattern Himself after us. Before you or any other dad came along, He chose to reveal Himself this way. He was not a father who sent out a son to do his own thing when he got old enough. He is a Father who fulfilled His own mission and identity in His Son. Is that your relationship with your son?
A Submissive Son
Chances are, your boys are not so submissive as to grow up to do everything you suggest for them. However, they should develop your spirit. The Spirit of the Father dwelled in Jesus Christ. He said, “I can do nothing without the Father” (John 5:19, 30) Theoretically, this special Man could have done His own thing, but He chose to live out the very character of God in flesh.
This is not to say we should force our wishes on our young men to make them to turn out with the same job and interests as we have. Instead, we develop our children into our image of godliness. They pick up our values and live by our morals. If we are grateful, they will live it out by saying “thank you.” If we are selfish and rude, they will burp and belch their ways through life, always looking for fun.
A Connected Father
We might gripe that our kids do not want to follow us, but the real problem is how available we are. The Father never left the Son (John 8:29). How much time I spend with my boys determines whether they adopt my spirit or not. Time together stabilizes them and unifies us. If I push them away or farm them out to others, they will adopt the values and personality of whomever else they hang with.
To put spirit into my kids, I have to have the Spirit dwelling in me. I do not want them to learn my trade or habits; I want them to learn respect toward elders and love toward God. I want them to live kindness, love, and patience.
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Learn the history of the One God movement and little known facts in the book Our God is One by Talmadge French.
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Read this story to your kids:
A Bird like Rusty
Last time Rusty was having a hard time getting his new pet cockatiel to understand he was a friend.
Misty came into Rusty’s room carrying a mirror. “Here,” she said. “This little hand mirror will help your cockatiel feel at home.”
Rusty took it and looked it over. “It will?”
“Yep,” she said. “Mom has been looking up things to make the bird happier. This will make it think there is another one like itself here.”
“Okay, thanks,” Rusty said. He attached the mirror, and he and his sister sat down to watch his new pet. “Here you go, little buddy.”
Adam cocked his head to one side and looked at the mirror they had stuck in front of him. He crept closer on his perch to get a better look. Then, Adam turned around and started combing his feathers into place with his beak.
“Look!” Rusty said.
Misty laughed. “He’s fixing his hairdo!”
“Hey, little buddy,” Rusty said, “do you like your new mirror? See, we are your friends, okay?”
“Rusty, you are making me sick,” Misty said with a laugh.
“I just want him to feel at home here.”
“You talk to him more gushy than I talk to my dolls,” she said.
Mom laughed as she walked into the room. “Gushing over your bird, huh, Rusty?”
Rusty shrugged. “He likes the mirror.”
“Good. Well, I was going to say, it is good for you to talk to your cockatiel. From what I read, they need lots of attention and talking. You are doing just fine.”
• • •
A week later, Rusty got permission to take Adam out of the cage for the first time. “Hey, little buddy, how would you like to come out for a while?” He set him on his arm and talked to him for almost 20 minutes. He started doing this about everyday in addition to making sure Adam had all the food and water he needed.
Soon, Adam would climb onto his hand when he opened the cage door. Rusty started taking him for walks around the house, showing him the pictures, and getting him used to the dog.
Adam had been using the jungle gym Rusty and Dad made, too. He could climb up the ladder and peck at the punching ball on the spring. He never tried going down the slide tube, but he did look through it every now and then. Rusty’s pet bird loved the trapeze swing the most. He could sit on it for hours everyday, looking at himself in the mirror.
Dad and Rusty started building a bigger playground for the cockatiel to use, on top of the cage. It took them a couple weeks to get it all together, but soon the bird could come out and play whenever Rusty had free time.
• • •
Rusty could not believe a whole month had gone by since he first got his little buddy. One Saturday morning, Rusty was lying in bed staring at the ceiling. He has just woken up and was trying to decide if it was time to get out of bed. He took a deep breath and then he heard someone say something.
“Little buddy.”
Rusty listened closely.
“Hey, little buddy.”
Now he knew he was not hearing things. He turned his head, and, there in the cage, Adam was looking down at him.
“Hey, little buddy,” the cockatiel said in a voice that sounded a lot like Rusty’s.
Rusty sat up, “Little buddy? Woo-hoo!” He jumped out of bed and dashed over to the cage. “You can talk!”
Rusty opened the cage door and let his pet climb onto his arm. He hurried down the hallway, carrying the bird. “Mom? Dad? Guys? Hey, anybody, my bird can talk!”
Misty came stumbling out of her bedroom, rubbing her eyes. “What?”
“Misty, Adam can talk! He said ‘little buddy.’”
“Really?” She looked at the bird. “Say something, Adam.”
The bird just looked up at her and blinked.
“Well, say something,” she said.
“Misty!” Rusty said, scolding her.
“Misty. Misty.” Adam said.
“See?”
“Whoa! That is so cool,” she said. “Can you get him to say anything you want?”
Rusty laughed. “No, he only says stuff he hears us say often. I call him ‘little buddy’ a lot, I guess, and he picked it up.”
“C’mon, let’s go show Mom and Dad.”
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Let’s Discuss it:
Rusty spent a lot of time with his pet cockatiel. What did this do for the bird?
Made him more friendly and happy.
If the Spirit of God is in our lives, how does it make a difference like Rusty and his bird?
We get to know God better and start talking different.
After Rusty spent a lot of time with the bird, it began to copy the things he said. What will change about our lives if we spend a lot of time with Jesus?
We will begin to talk like Him and pick up His way of living.
If Adam, the cockatiel, had lived around some boy who said bad words, what would the bird have said?
If we find ourselves doing or saying bad things, what do you think it indicates?
We have been spending to much time with the wrong kind of people.
How do you spend time with Jesus?
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Read God’s Word together:
So the Spirit could Come
Dear Theophilus: In my first book I wrote about all the things that Jesus did and taught from the time he began his work until the day he was taken up to heaven. Before he was taken up, he gave instructions by the power of the Holy Spirit to the men he had chosen as his apostles. For forty days after his death he appeared to them many times in ways that proved beyond doubt that he was alive.
They saw him, and he talked with them about the Kingdom of God. And when they came together, he gave them this order: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift I told you about, the gift my Father promised. John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
When the apostles met together with Jesus, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time give the Kingdom back to Israel?”
Jesus said to them, “The times and occasions are set by my Father’s own authority, and it is not for you to know when they will be. But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
After saying this, he was taken up to heaven as they watched him, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They still had their eyes fixed on the sky as he went away, when two men dressed in white suddenly stood beside them and said,
“Galileans, why are you standing there looking up at the sky? This Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven.”
Then the apostles went back to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is about half a mile away from the city. They entered the city and went up to the room where they were staying: Peter, John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Patriot, and Judas son of James. They gathered frequently to pray as a group, together with the women and with Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers…
When the day of Pentecost came, all the believers were gathered together in one place. Suddenly there was a noise from the sky which sounded like a strong wind blowing, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire which spread out and touched each person there. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.
(Acts 1:1-14; 2:1-4, Good News Bible)
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Now discuss it:
Last time we read of Jesus telling His disciples that He had to leave so they could be filled with His Spirit. This time, what does He promise them in Acts 1:8?
That they would receive power after they receive the Spirit.
And what would the Spirit give them power to do?
To be witnesses for Jesus.
Was that just for believers back then or for us, too?
Us, too.
How does the Spirit help us represent Jesus?
He helps change our desires so we desire what is pleasing to God. We live in peace and love the way Jesus would.
Role play: You have friends invite you into an arcade room and pool hall where a lot of guys cuss, smoke, and play games with evil graphics. Would Jesus hang out in a place like that? Would the Spirit of God lead you there?
You have a friend who lied to his parents about what he did. Now, your parents want to know the truth. You do not want to see him get in trouble, and God wants us to have friends. Should you cover for him? Want would make Jesus happy?
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Memorize the message: