This past week I invited a group of parents to come to our church for a seminar on parenting. The great majority that attended were not Christians (around 55 people). The theme that I was expounding on was the heart of the child, and not just conduct. Some time ago I had read the book Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Ted Tripp. It was a great help to me at the time that I read it. As I thought further about the topic, I began to understand from the Scriptures that what is equally important as the heart of the child is the heart of the parents.
I taught on this idea to all of the parents present and it gave me the opportunity to speak about Christ, repentance, and faith. Through this theme I taught the gospel to many people. When it was over, the people returned to their homes, but I waited until the last person had left to see if anyone there needed further help. I didn’t see anyone, so I decided to return to my home also. However, just as I was getting ready to leave on my motorcycle I noticed a lady who was still outside the church. She began to tell me that she thought it was interesting how I mentioned that the heart of a child is going to be impacted by the heart of the parent. This gave me the opportunity to ask her, “And what is in your heart?”
After my conversation with her, she has extended me the invitation to come to their house and preach the gospel to the whole family. I have accepted the invitation and I am going to preach Christ, only Christ.
This interaction has reminded me of God’s sovereign orchestration of the meeting between Cornelius and Peter. Both responded in obedience to God’s revelation to them and God brought salvation to Cornelius’ household. I am pleading with the Lord that He would bring salvation to this lady, her husband, and her children.
Also, I want to take advantage of the opportunity to thank those who give to HeartCry for the material that has been given to our church for the training of men for ministry. Many of these brothers are a great help in the work here, but it’s important for them to continue to be refined in the ministry and these books will help them work toward that. Please, pray for these men that are in training in the local church.
