Actions Speak Louder than Words - Lesson 5 - ... with our Children

Story of paint truck

Want to leave a mark,
A lasting impression that others will see.

Actions speak louder than words.
We can talk about leaving a lasting impression,
We can talk about all that we want to do with our children,
We can make excuses for why we didn’t do what we wanted.

Or we can start doing it now.

Joshua 4:1-9, ‘And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying, Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man, And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night. Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man: And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel: That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever. And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the LORD spake unto Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood: and they are there unto this day.’

Elaborate on the memorial.
Something to remind the children to ask us
because we will forget to teach them.

Duties of a parent
Most specifically fathers,
that require action:

To teach,
to train,
to provide for,
to nurture,
to control,
to love and
to correct.

To Teach

Deuteronomy 6:7, ‘And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.’


To Train

Proverbs 22:6, ‘Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.‘


To Provide for

2Corinthians 12:14, ‘Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.’


To Nurture

Ephesians 6:4, ‘And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.’

Colossians 3:21 Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.


To Control

1Timothy 3:4-5, ‘One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)’

1Timothy 3:12, ‘Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.’


To Love

Titus 2:4, ‘That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,’


The Correction of Children

Proverbs 19:18, ‘Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.

Proverbs 17:6, ‘Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.’





Additional verses

Proverbs 13:24, ‘He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.’

Proverbs 1:8, ‘My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:’

Proverbs 3:12, ‘For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.’

Hebrews 12:7, ‘If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?’

Proverbs 22:15, ‘Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.’

Proverbs 23:13, ‘Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.’

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