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Mother’s Day – Produce Prepare Protect

Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother’s day!

Welcome to Redemption Church in Plano Tx. My name is Chris Fluitt. I am blessed to serve at Redemption as Lead Pastor, and I am blessed to be with you all on Mother’s day. I want you to know that I love Mother’s day.
How much do we love Mother’s day at Redemption? We love it so much that we have suspended all terrible Tim Allen intro videos in honor of our mothers.
I think it is important that we honor our mother & father. It almost seems like that is a Biblical idea… Oh wait! It is. God commanded this!
Exodus 20:12 (NIV2011) “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
Thank you so much for coming to worship God today. Also I give a huge thank you to everyone joining us online. Hello Facebook Live. Hello Youtube & podcast people! Happy Mother’s day.
3 P’s of Parenting

Today I want to talk to you about the 3 P’s of parenting.
And if you think that is bad, just know that our creative team talked me out of titling this… Puh Puh Puh Parenting.
P-P-P-Parenting

We don’t want to come across insensitive to anyone with a stuttering issue.
3 P’s of Parenting
Parenting is about production. A parent must produce.
Parents Produce

You are a product of your parents. They produced you.
Your parents produced your chromosomes. Your DNA, your genetic traits like eye color, height, and skin tone, were produced by your mom & dad.
We like to think about our individuality and independence, but we would not exist without parents.
The smallest, most essential things about your physical person were not produced by you, but by your parents.
Parents Produce!
A good parent produces beyond the molecular level.
We become a product of our parent’s character and personality. We become a product of the home environment. The amount of time a parent spends, or does not spend, will produce things.
This is a natural law of creation. When you read the creation account in the book of Genesis you will find the phrase “produce.. after its kind”, or “according to its kind.”
This is why an apple seed produces and apple tree. This is why a fish produces a fish. God created everything alive, to produce after its kind.
The genetics of your parents produce in kind, and form you. The life of your parents produce in kind, and form you as well.
God created everything that is alive to produce!
If you are alive, you are created to produce.
God created everything that is alive to produce after its kind!
God’s design is that you reproduce yourself
2 Timothy 1:5 (NIV2011) I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.
The Apostle Paul recognizes the sincere faith of Timothy. He recognizes it, because He has seen it before.
My children have my wife’s eyes. People often see my children & my wife separately, and without introduction, they deduce that Sarah is the mother of these children. This deduction is easy to make, because they have seen those eyes before.
Without prompting they think, “Your mom must have produced these beautiful blue eyes.”
This is what the Apostle Paul is saying in 2 Timothy. This beautiful faith of yours, I remember seeing it before. I first saw this beautiful faith living in your grandmother Lois. Then I remember seeing this beautiful faith living in your mother Eunice. Now I am persuaded, this beautiful faith has been PRODUCED in you also.
Give some thought today as to what you are producing.
Parents Produce
God’s design is that everything living thing produces after its kind.
I love bringing my kids to this Church. I know they are going to be around amazing people and I know that the people in this church are producing great things in them.
I want this worship team to reproduce a love for God within my children.
I want sweet hearted people of prayer like Junia to reproduce herself with my sons.
I want the servant-hood of Scott & Patricia to be reproduced in my kids.
I want the love of scripture I see within Jeremy to be reproduced in my babies.
You may not be the parents of my children, but inside the body of Christ you are a producer. Everything alive produces after its kind. The Body of Christ is alive and it produces Jesus in a world that desperately needs Him.
Parents produce & parents prepare
Parents Prepare

You are given a baby. This baby can’t do anything on its own.
So we feed the baby, but we also prepare the baby to feed itself one day.
We clean and clothe the baby, but we also prepare the baby to clean & clothe itself one day.
Parents prepare.
Psalm 127:3 (NIV2011) Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.
Psalm 127:4 (NIV2011) Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth.
Scripture likens children to an arrow in the hands of a warrior.
There is a lot of preparation in shooting an arrow.
Parents Prepare

• Grasp the arrow
  You need to grasp the arrow. You can’t just tell the arrow what to do. You must contact the arrow.

Parents need to make contact if they are to prepare. There are so many children who have no contact with their parent. They need a parent to prepare them.

• Aim the arow
  You need to aim the arrow. The arrow will not direct itself.

Children need direction. They need to be pointed in the right direction. They need someone to identify the target. There are so many children heading down a directionless path. They need a parent to prepare them.
I am going to show you how to shoot an arrow. You grasp the arrow and put it in its place. Then you aim at the target. And then you… push the arrow… you slap the arrow… you know the arrow forward…
That doesn’t work does it?
This is the hardest part about parenting I think. This is what makes preparing people so difficult.
The string on this bow represents tension, and when you take the arrow and pull against the tension, it creates the power to send the arrow to the target.
Pushing the arrow won’t send the arrow. Abusing the arrow won’t send the arrow. Calling the arrow names won’t send the arrow.

• Pull through the tension

An archer pulls the arrow near and then allows the tension to send the arrow.
This is what is hard about parenting right here. Tension is required to send the arrow.
Life is full of tension. Your child is going to feel a lot of tension. They will make mistakes. They won’t be perfect. They will hear your wisdom and turn around and do something else. They will be lazy at times. They will neglect your care sometimes. They will face problems that no one for saw. Other people will hurt them. They will have failures… BUT THROUGH IT ALL YOU KEEP PULLING THEM NEAR.
The tension is often between the parent and the child, but the design is that the string of bow is the tension, not the arrow and the archer.
LISTEN TO ME PARENTS! If you won’t let go of the arrow… if you keep pulling against the tension… if you keep pulling closer toward yourself… you will send an arrow.

• Let go and send the arrow

Then there comes the moment where you must let go of the arrow to send it into the world. There comes a moment where you must let go.
You can’t prepare them to hit the target if you are never willing to let go.
The moment you let go, it becomes too late to prepare the arrow. You needed to influence the arrow before this moment.
Too many parents send an unprepared child out into the world.
Parents prepare. Prepare them because one day you will have to send them.
Parents Produce
Parents Prepare
Parents Protect

Children need more protection than ever. I could read you terrible news articles, one after another, of how children are being hurt in our society.
A Parent is called to protect. A Christian Parent under the reign of Jesus Christ is called to protect. Redemption Church we are called to protect!
Perhaps you are sitting here today and you don’t have kids… you aren’t planning on having kids. That’s ok. I guarantee there is a child somewhere in your realm of influence that needs your protection.
Someone is calling that child stupid… that will never amount to anything. Will you protect their self-worth?
Someone is trying to influence that child towards a drug addiction. Will you protect their future?
There is an enemy that has come to KILL STEAL & DESTROY. Who will offer protection?
There are children in your neighborhood who have never been to church. Their parents won’t take them. Would you be willing to take them?
 
Our God is a protector. He said this..
Matthew 18:6 (NIV2011) “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
Proverbs 14:26 (NIV2011) Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge.
Does that sound like God is willing to protect?
His followers should protect. The decision to fear the Lord will be a secure fortress to you and your children!
Parents you need to protect what you have produced or you will lose them.
Parents you need to protect what you have prepared or you will lose them.
How do you protect? You stand between the child and the danger. Unlike the tension of preparation where you pull the child through the tension… To protect you stand in between the danger and the child.
I am thankful for praying parents who stood between me and an enemy.
I had a grandmother who fought Satan on my behalf. She said “Devil you cannot have my grand son.”
Happy Mother’s day everyone. We could end this sermon right here and let you go home. BUT LET’S GO FURTHER TODAY.
Let’s talk to God. Produce, Prepare, Protect