Ephesians 6:4 “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”

Discipleship begins at home. How? simply stated, we do discipleship at home by employing the “do not… instead” principle — “do not exasperate your children,” this is the negative approach; “instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” is the positive approach.

1. Do not exasperate your children

What does it mean to “exasperate your children”? It means we must not use inappropriate words or actions to provoke your children towards anger, so that lasting resentment is generated their hearts.

There are 7 possibilities: we exasperate our children when we

a. are easily angered
b. speak carelessly
c. are unreasonable
d. are unwilling to listen
e. fail to keep our word
f. say one thing and do another
g. play favorites

2. Raise Them Up

According to the truth in God’s word, we raise our children up through a positive relationship.

a. Connect your child to the Lord by being an authentic role model

b. Teach your child to read God’s Word do they know the will of God

c. Create a positive relationship with your child. The stronger your relationship, the more you can exert a positive influence on them.

– Communicate. Speak less, Listen more.

– Invest time. The more time you spend together, the more you can influence them

As Fathers, we must connect to God and be a true disciple. Only then can our children learn from our example and we can be a strong and positive influence in our children’s lives.

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Scripture passage: 1 Peter 3:7

Martin Luther once said, “May the wife cause her husband to love coming home, and the husband make the wife sad when he leaves home.”

After a man and woman are married, a woman will value the family more, while the man will value his work more, so the man and the woman will have differing values. To have a happy marriage, the two must be willing to learn.

1. Instructions from the Truth / God’s word

a. Instructions for the wife: Submit to and Respect your husband

b. Instructions for the husband: Love your wife, just as Christ loves the church

2. Four marriage models

a. Hate and Defiance model – man does not love his wife, and wife does not submit; this leads to divorce

b. Hate and Obedience model – the wife is willing to continue and endures the relationship

c. Love and Defiance model – Husband loves the wife, but the wife does not submit.

d. Love and Obedience model – the ideal model: husband loves the wife, wife submits to get husband. It is not an easy model, but it is not impossible.

3. Three principles that must be learned for a successful marriage

a. Husband and wife must spend time together – otherwise the couple will not establish the pattern of loving and submitting. If you love the person, you will find time for the person.

b. Couple must share the housework – this principle pertains not just to the running of the household; this principle also includes raising and disciplining the children, especially in today’s age of working wives and moms.

c. Pay attention to the greatest problems in marriage:
– sexual temptation
– financial crisis
– miscommunication

We must go back to the Bible, return to the truth. Psalm 127:1 reminds us that unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.

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Proverbs 23:22-25

You only have one mother who carried you in her womb for forty weeks. The Chinese refer to this period as “ten months in the womb.” There is a bond of life between you and her. You will never have another mother who gave you life and whose life is related in that way to you.

When our parents leave this world, we must remember them; more importantly, while our parents are alive, we must seize the opportunity to honor them.

Proverbs 23:22-25 teaches us how to honor our parents.

1. Listen to your parents v.22

2. Respect your parents v.23

3. Seek to please your parents. v24-25

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