1. Painting a Picture
Ephesians 6:4

2. What kind of picture are you painting?
Exasperate—to excite the anger of; enrage; to cause irritation or annoyance to; to make more grievous; aggravate.

3. What kind of picture are you painting?
Do they see God in you?
Remember in my sermon on cherishing our parents, I said that parents are a child’s first lesson in authority, respect, love, forgiveness…etc.
A father is also a child’s first perspective of God.
“The picture of a father that you give your children will be their picture of God.”
--Tim Postle

4. What kind of picture are you painting?
Do they see God in you?
How a child’s father treats them will influence their view of God.
If a father is harsh and angry with their children most of the time then the child will view God in the same manner.
If a father is fair and just then it will influence the child to see God as fair & just.
If a father mistreats a child then he/she will wrath against God.

5. What kind of picture are you painting?
Do they see God in you?
When it comes to our children we need to remember that we are priests.
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”—I Peter 2:9

6. What kind of picture are you painting?
Do they see God in you?
Therefore we need to be training them for ministry in the church from baby up.
Which means that we must be involved in the ministries of the church.
And take our children with us.
To see a clearer picture of God and so that they see the picture of the father that you are in your head or want to be, then we must use self-control.

7. What kind of picture are you painting?
Do we build up or tear down?
Do we encourage our children like God encourages us? Do we show grace like God shows grace to us?
Or do we add insult to injury? Or do we degrade instead of forgive and instruct?

8. What kind of picture are you painting?
Do we build up or tear down?
Fathers must understand what their sons and daughters need from them.
The number one need of men is significance.
We fathers must first find significance in the Lord.
And then we must teach our boys to find significance in the Lord.
The number one need of a woman is security.
This is found in a man most of the time; should be the Lord.
And to many daughters ½ a man is better than no man.

9. What kind of picture are you painting?
Do we build up or tear down?
Don’t exasperate your children even though they exasperate you!
Consistency is key.
If we consistently put down and degrade, show our anger, mock, and grind an open wound then our children will have little self-confidence, and will likely be pushed away from God.
Fathers are a child’s first lesson in who God is.

10. What kind of picture are you painting?
Do we build up or tear down?
Don’t exasperate your children even though they exasperate you!
Consistency is key.
If we consistently praise, uplift, take the time to teach through our discipline then our children will have great confidence, problem solving skills, people skills and will desire to follow God.
Consistent proper discipline requires creativity.

11. Remember these words of wisdom:
“Once upon a time, I was a perfect parent. Then I had children. The end.” 

12. Remember these words of wisdom:
“We can’t expect perfection from our children. Train them to be self-sufficient. And these are their practicing years.”

13. Remember these words of wisdom:
“If parenthood came with a GPS it would mostly say: Recalculating.”

14. What kind of picture are you painting?
What are we training them to be?
We need to be training up future kingdom workers; next generation Christians.
We need to be impressing the Lord’s commands on our children daily.
Deuteronomy 6:1-9
We must lead by example.
Grandparents, Aunts & Uncles play a role in this as well.

15. “Children may have trouble listening to their elders, but they never fail to imitate them.”

16. “Your greatest contribution to the kingdom of God may not be something you do, but someone you raise.”—Andy Stanley

17. “You’re raising someone’s husband, father, mother, and wife.”

18. What kind of picture are you painting?
“Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands. His children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.”—Psalm 112:1-2