Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / Parenting Seminar 2026 - "Biblical Dynamics of Family: Benefit & Byproduct" by Glenn Hitchcock

Transcript

Parenting Seminar 2026 - "Biblical Dynamics of Family: Benefit & Byproduct" by Glenn Hitchcock · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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He has done a bunch of preaching throughout his life, served as
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an elder, has done a lot of work in social work, is trained in
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that area, and has been helping us as we look at our relationship to one
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another as a family, but primarily doing our parenting seminar on Friday and Saturday.
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I believe those lessons have been recorded for those who weren't able to be here
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for that, but we're thankful that he's going to be teaching our Bible class this
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morning and also will have the sermon to follow. So turn the class over
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Good morning. For those who don't
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know me, am I too loud already, huh?
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79 inches is the answer.
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People ask, well, how tall are you?
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First time I came to Texas, it was amazing
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because I was stepping off the aircraft
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and there were these 3 very sophisticated
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elderly ladies,
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and one of them turned around and asked me the question,
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my, my, they sure grow 'em tall in Texas, don't they?
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And I responded, well, ma'am, frankly, this is my first time
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in Texas and I'm from Virginia, and so far I haven't seen
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a tall Texan yet.
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And she said, oh, oh my, well, welcome to Texas.
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But we're glad to be in, in Kentucky,
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glad to be back here at this great congregation,
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glad to see your smiling faces. For those who attended
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for the seminar Thank you. And for those
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who were not at the seminar,
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welcome. Some of the things that we have to say
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will be repetitious to some, important to others,
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and challenging for the most part to many.
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Reading a quote: When little people are overwhelmed
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by big emotions, it is our job
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to share our calm not our chaos with
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our children. This reinforces emotional
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stability, and it gives them a sense of
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calm and ease
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knowing that God is in control and
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that their parents aren't really crazy as I seem to
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be because they're not joining me in my chaos.
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And life goes on. Today we want to talk
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about the benefits of
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the Christian family. These are some terms
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that we covered introducing the biblical
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dynamics of the, of the family. There are 6
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dynamic ones beginning As
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it relates to God providing the family,
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the family just didn't show up one day.
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God is the giver of family,
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beginning with mom and dad, and gifts in
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the form of two-legged children that
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will challenge each and every one of us from time to time.
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The bubble, the protective feature of the family,
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is so important also. Many of you remember
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fond and lasting memories in
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the bubble of your family, in the protection of your family.
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There are boundaries. We discussed the boundaries, the parameters being
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the Scriptures, based upon submission to God.
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And folks, the part that many have trouble with,
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it seems— not all, but some— the
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behavior stage for all
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of us, not just our children but also parents.
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You know, if parents misbehave with their children,
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no wonder children are crazy as you think that they are.
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You know, I had a— I had some crazy parents.
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Yeah, I was— got a little crazy too. But thank
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God there was something that could comb through that craziness to
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weed out the things that I didn't need and to
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help fortify the things that I really needed.
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It was the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Romans 1:16,
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Paul says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why?
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It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believed, to Jew
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first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of
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God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall
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live by faith. 4 reasons why we never ought to be ashamed
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of the gospel when it comes to our families and living before the world.
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We ought never to be ashamed of the gospel because of its origin. I know
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I'm off right now, but I'm coming back. Because of its origin.
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The gospel originated with God. Didn't originate with man.
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We trust it to teach our and train our children.
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We use the gospel to help reproduce a world
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of faithful Christians that the world may be a brighter place because
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we're the lights of God's people, Matthew 5:16-17.
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And so we are not to be ashamed of the gospel because of its
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origin. Not to be ashamed of the gospel
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because of its operation. Paul says the gospel is an operation
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of power. It's related
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to like dynamite. It could just obliterate
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whatever it needs to obliterate. And the biggest thing that needs to be obliterated
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in our day and time, folks, is a word that starts
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with an S and it hisses— sin. Isn't that right?
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The gospel can remove that. So whatever
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problems we have in our families, the gospel can help to comb it out and
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fortify what's left. So I'm not ashamed
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of the gospel as a member of God's family because
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of the operation of the gospel. I'm not
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ashamed of the gospel because of its outreach. The gospel
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reaches out to all family members. Whether on
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the earth or in my household, the gospel we
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are amenable to. There's not a person here that's exempt
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from the call of the gospel as
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it relates to becoming a member of the family of God. We've— and I'm not
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ashamed of that. I'm glad to know that I can relate to you this morning
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because of the gospel of Jesus Christ, regardless of how short you
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are or how tall you are or what you look like.
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And so I'm not ashamed of the gospel because
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of its outcome. Paul says the gospel
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and its outcome is salvation.
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Isn't that what we want for our children?
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Isn't that what we want for our grandchildren, for generations yet
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unborn? We want them to be saved.
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We don't have a magic wand, but we do have a
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mighty story to tell to our children,
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to each other. And so we have the gospel
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to help to curb our behavior as parents
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as we submit to it and apply it to ourselves first
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and to our children. There's the benefit,
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which is what we're going to talk about this morning. You didn't think I'd get
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there, did you? The benefit. One day your children are
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going to grow up and guess what? They're going to leave home.
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And some of you folks will say, well, then I'm going to get
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into basket weaving because I'm going to call myself a what? An empty
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what? An empty nester.
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I didn't do that. I celebrated. I did.
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My wife celebrated more so than I did. I hope my daughter don't
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see this. You know why? We could finally
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get our house clean again. Say amen when you can.
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And we could take all of that stuff— high
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school, private school,
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kindergarten, those Disney things and stuff—
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and just box them up and say, here, sweetheart, take this
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with you. We're glad that you can
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come back and see us, but take all of that with you.
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Dad needs the space. No, Mom needs the space.
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Dad has a study, but Mom's gonna get a study now.
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You're gone, you're promoted. We did our
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job. Isn't that right?
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If you're honest, you'll do this. That's right.
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Oh, we're gonna miss you. And just to let you know,
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we're gonna give you a bus token so you can come back and visit whenever
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you want to. And she does. She called us
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the other— I guess it was last night. Mom, I'm at your house.
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Guess what I'm doing? Washing clothes. Why?
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Dad didn't fix the dryer yet. Okay. What does
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the dryer have to do with her washing clothes at my house?
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Wash your clothes and bring them— oh no, Dad, it's easy if I just bring
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it all over to your house. You know, it's a nice laundromat you have.
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I don't have one like that. So you still get the joy of promotion.
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We'll also talk about the byproducts. I know the bell's gonna ring before long,
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so let me get, get with this. There's the benefit of Christian parenting.
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You know, Rebecca,
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the Bible says her sister said
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to her— she's— well, it says, and they blessed Rebecca
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and said to her, our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of
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10 thousands, and may your descendants possess the gates of
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those who hate them.
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Isaac was on a mission. Rebecca was the target.
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When it was time for her to go, she left. Why?
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Promotion. She left the household. She was prepared
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by her parents to go on a mission,
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to live her life, to leave,
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cleave, and achieve for God and for her
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family. That's what promotion's all about. There's a benefit
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in promotion evangelistically. You know, we have a problem sometimes in the Lord's church.
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Elders, we talk about this a lot. How can we get
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more families to come and be a part of the body of Christ?
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But the unique problem with that is when your
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young mothers will
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say, one day I want my son
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or my daughter to grow up and marry what kind of a Christian?
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Starts with an F. Faithful Christian. Well, where are
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you going to find it? Where are you going to find faithful Christians?
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In the Lord's church, right? Well, why do they go other places?
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You know why they go to other places? Because when they look in the Lord's
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church, what kind of people are there for them to date,
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marry, and talk to? For the most part,
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well, where we are, we have a lot of old people. We have a lot
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of kids. But I don't want my 20-some-year-old
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daughter dating a 57-year-old dude.
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I don't want that.
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Compatibility issues. Many compatibility
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issues crop up because many
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congregations are not reproducing people
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from the world. They're not seeking and saving the lost.
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And we began to look around and say, well, who is
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that to date? I might as well send them here or
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there or something like that. And we lose, we lose our kids,
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or we lose the benefit of
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having to celebrate Christian marriages.
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I want to challenge this congregation to continue to be evangelistic
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I tell my daughter all the time, if you want a Christian man,
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if you want to marry a Christian man, you're going to have to help cultivate
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one. You have to go out there along with the rest of us,
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seek and save the lost,
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evangelize. 2 Timothy 2 and verse 2, the things that you heard of me,
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the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to
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teach others also. The who shall be able to teach others also.
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That's our responsibility as parents and
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as candidates looking for a Christian husband or a
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Christian wife.
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I've got to be in a teaching position, not just in a dating position.
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Many of us are just in a dating position. You think it's just gonna fall
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out of the sky, boom, there he is.
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And Lord help the poor fellow who first gets here,
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you know, he's new, he's maybe going to the university here or something like
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that. Handsome young man told his girlfriend back home he'll see
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her in the, you know, next semester and stuff. And all of our eligible
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candidates, whoop, jump on him like, how you doing?
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Hey, come on, let's go eat and do this. That's fine, nothing wrong with that.
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College students, you're here, you know what I'm talking about.
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That's great, but we have to
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make sure that we can leaven
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the church by keeping our eyes on the prize.
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As I said on, I guess it was Friday night,
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maybe it was yesterday, I don't remember now, but we
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have to have the priority of viewing God's
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creation as souls that
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happen to be in a body rather than
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a beautiful body that happens to have a soul.
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What does a man profit if he should gain the whole world and lose his
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own soul? The church
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must grow evangelistically,
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and that leaven is not just going out in
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the community, but it takes place right here in our families.
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The father, who is the initiator of love in the family,
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is the primary disciple maker. Parents are the primary disciple makers for
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their children. And if you disciple your children
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properly, they will grow up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
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And they will have an evangelistic attitude about
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others that they see compatible, and they will target
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people to try to teach them the gospel, of which they are not ashamed
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of. And the church can grow that way also. So we talk
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about the benefit of God's family from the standpoint of evangelism,
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from the church going out and and from the
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family teaching within. And when we do
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that, we have a plethora of opportunities for
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having compatible candidates for our children,
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and we won't have to be
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so worried, which is something you shouldn't do,
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Philippians 4:6,
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and overly concerned about those things. Let God do
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what God's gonna do. Well, let me move
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on. I'm running out of time. Matrimonially, Christians marry Christians
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to propagate the legacy. Oh, young people,
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if I could only tell you some horror stories.
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You won't listen to 'em, so I won't tell you that.
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But one of the great truths of it all is There's
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a great benefit when Christians marry Christians and
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they submit to God's will. Ephesians 5:1—
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well, the whole chapter there, basically. 5:21, submit to
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one another in the fear of the Lord.
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Because we love the Lord, we submit to one another. And to grow
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up like that— I told the story how Mercedes and I were first married.
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I was not a faithful— I was not a Christian.
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Well, when we got married, I was a Christian, but just before we got married,
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I obeyed the gospel. The first time I heard it, I obeyed it in Warner
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Robins, Georgia. My wife grew up in the church.
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She and her family had targeted me for an opportunity
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to teach the gospel to.
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It wasn't difficult for me. I was already enamored by everything
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that I saw in her. But spiritually,
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my appetite was satisfied with what I heard.
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The words ring true in Romans 10:17,
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therefore faith comes by hearing and
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hearing by the Word of God. I heard the Word of God, I obeyed
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the Word of God, got married about,
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not too many days afterwards.
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We subscribed to the New Testament, to the Bible,
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to help resolve any difficulties that we had.
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It was a little hard at first, but thank God
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for our church family that supported us,
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for loving elders who took care of us and shepherded
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us. The benefit of
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promotion socially then— the world needs lights.
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And the lights of the world are brothers and sisters
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in Christ who love one another. Fathers and mothers
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in love with God affirming it with a great
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yes is what family's all about. We are the light
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of the world. The world will not be changed
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by someone else. It has to be God's
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people. Economically, the world
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will be changed. The benefit of the Christian family,
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their sense of stewardship, it started when they first married
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and had their first child. God gave them,
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entrusted them a precious gift.
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Children are gifted by God.
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They are not TCK,
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trophy case kids. Trophy case kids
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are kids that are enamored with materialism because their parents
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treat them like they are material. They pull them out of the cage
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when they want to, or out of the trophy case when they want to,
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and they show them around. They put them back in the trophy case from time
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to time, and they will give them a little money or some more gaming action
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stuff to keep them satisfied while they go and do their thing.
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Thing. That's poor stewardship. Christian parenting
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is about stewardship in the fear
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of God, where we view
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our kids as God does.
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They are the precious gift from God. We talked
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more about that in Psalm 127. As arrows in
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the hand of a mighty man, So are the children of our youth.
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Blessed is the man who has his quiver— what?
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Full of them. That means all of them. You know,
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all of our kids a little different, isn't that right?
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Raise your hand if you have a favorite child. Don't do it, don't do it.
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You violate the gift of the quiver. The gift
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of the quiver says I have no favorite children unless
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it's all of them. Isn't that right?
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You're looking at me funny, let me move on. Morally,
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that's Christian compliance. Because Christians
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submit to the will of God, they are
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least likely— I'm not saying that it's unlikely,
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but they are least likely to
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commit heinous immoral acts
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and atrocities in the world. That's the kind of person
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I kind of want to be married to. I don't want to
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be married to a serial killer Mercedes. I don't want
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to be married to a serial killer. Do you?
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God says Christians are
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some of the greatest people on the face of the earth because of their morals,
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because of their sense of stewardship, economics,
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because of their influence socially,
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because of their family matrimonially.
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They have a legacy. They're not looking for something temporary.
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And they help to grow the world for God evangelistically
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like leaven. And spiritually,
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Christian maturity. I want to marry someone who
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is mature in the faith, who is growing in the faith.
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None of us have arrived, believe me, but 2 Peter
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3:18, we're growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
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Savior Jesus Christ. Spiritual growth and spiritual
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maturity is what is benefited
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by being a part of, of the Christian family.
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Our altar is in our home And
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it goes out of the house into our worship on the Lord's Day.
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It goes into the office on Monday through Friday.
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It goes wherever we go. It goes with us on vacation.
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I don't put my spirituality aside because I go on vacation.
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I'm glad to be a Christian.
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I'm glad to be a member of the Christian family of
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saints that meet all over the world because
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I know I can grow with them.
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I'm a part of their legacy. I have
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influence with them and they with me.
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They're loyal. They are good moral
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people and they are growing spiritually.
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And if I had to recommend them to my child to
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marry, I'd say, sic 'em! That's who you want.
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And that's what this seminar has been about all this week.
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The benefit also is about succession.
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The goal of family lifespan development is succession.
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Children grow up and become whatever you instill in them.
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I better say that again. Children grow up and become whatever you instill
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in them. There's a proverb that says,
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when your children are born,
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they resemble their parents, but when
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they die, they resemble their choices.
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What do you think of that? The goal of parenting
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is to remember that they become whatever you instilled in them.
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And I go back to the quote that I said, that I began with: when
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little people are overwhelmed by big emotions, it is our
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job to share our calm with
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them and not our chaos, because one
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day They're gonna have to be discerning about
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life after you're gone.
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And whatever they— you've echoed in their ears,
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it's going to be what their choices have eventuated
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into being. So my question,
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will their structure hold based upon submitting
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to God? Will they be secure based upon
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living in the bubble of security in your house?
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Will they submit to the Scriptures because we started early
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with them? I talked about the cradle roll.
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I love cradle roll. Now, I don't— I don't normally teach
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in cradle roll, folks, I'll tell you that. I don't want to I don't want
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to scare them little babies.
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But Jesus loves me. I learned that in cradle roll.
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The B-I-B-L-E, cradle roll.
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And God is alive and God loves me, cradle roll.
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Put your babies in cradle roll.
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Let them learn submission early on.
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And you continue to work on your submission,
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and your family will improve drastically.
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Will they succeed in a family? Will your kids
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be promoted into society and
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make a mark for Jesus? Will they glorify God
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in all that they say and all that they do because of what you told
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them? Will they be suitable for someone to marry based
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upon what we've taught them? What questions
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might you have? That was quick.
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Here's the byproduct of families. In Genesis 2:24,
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a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,
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and they shall become one flesh. The byproducts of procreation
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Character, suitability. Believe because of submission.
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That's your faith. We talked about that in Romans 10:17.
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Leave because of security, the fortitude of knowing that God
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is with me. Jesus cares for me. 1 Peter 5:7, cast all
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your cares upon him. Why? Because he cares
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for you. I have the faith and
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the fortitude to walk anywhere in the world knowing that my God is
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with me. And I know that I can trust
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what I've been taught by my family and
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by the Word of God. I can take that anywhere in the world
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and never be ashamed because I'm a child
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of the King. Cleave because of the Scriptures.
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My fidelity— 1 Peter 4:11— I want to speak
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as the oracles of God. Wherever I go,
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whatever I do. I want to have a Bible
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answer for a Bible question, and I want to put it
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in such a way that my children will always understand me.
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Because I am the initiator of love in that family,
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it's my responsibility to train them,
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because I'm the primary discipler of my children,
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not the Bible class, not the Church of Christ, but parents
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are the primary disciple maker of our
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kids. And we test the quality
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of their teachings when they come to Bible class. We follow
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up on what they've been teaching. We make sure
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that they're being enhanced with God's Word
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and not the rhetoric the vain teachings
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of false philosophers and men.
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Achieved because of structural unity. Listen,
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we're family. There's nothing we can't do as God's
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family and as a Christian family as long as
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we're focused on God. I mentioned yesterday our
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family focus is either BK or KFC.
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BK. You know what BK usually stands for? Have it what?
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You said Burger King, but what does Burger King— what's their motto?
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Have it your way. Have it your way. A lot
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of families, they want to have it their way. You know, you do what you
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do, you come when you come, we don't do this. It's just do your thing,
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baby. You know, back in the '60s
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we had baby burn, baby burn, but today when they got have it your way,
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Well, I don't want to have it my way, because if I let my kids
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have it their way, you know what will happen? Don't answer, don't, don't answer,
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but there'll be chaos, confusion.
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And this is no knock against your kids,
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but there's a better way, and that's KFC.
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What's the motto of KFC? I don't know.
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What do you mean KFC, man? You crazy?
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Look at Matthew 6:33.
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Say it again.
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Kingdom-first Christians.
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Write it down. Kingdom-first Christians.
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KFC. Does that match with Matthew 6:33?
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Somebody do this. Does that match with Matthew
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6:33, Neil? Okay,
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Hiram, does that match? Okay, if I
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got Hiram and Neil doing this, I think I'm okay. I trust
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those fellas anyway. I go to war with those fellas anytime. That's KFC.
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When we put the kingdom first and beckon
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our kids to follow us as we make that march towards heaven,
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The choices that we make while we live
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will reflect the teachings that we receive
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from God's Word, and it
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will continue to influence even after we've died.
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Why? The Word of God is powerful.
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It's alive. It quickens.
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Hebrews 4 and verse 12. We don't,
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as members of the Church of Christ, as members of a family
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of Christians, we don't practice Burger King
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leadership— do it, have it your own way philosophy.
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We just don't do that. We communicate to each other.
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We care for each other. We take time for each
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other. We worship to God— worship God together.
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We pray together, not just at the church building but at home also.
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We set a spiritual legacy for our kids and
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for ourselves that won't fade away.
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I'm running out of time.
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Byproducts— reproduction. Let me go
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back here. Be a disciple maker, a soul winner.
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Be an example. Be a hearer and doer of the Word. Be a symbol.
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And I've kind of pushed all this together in these frames because I'm trying
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to do an overview of a lot of things that I've talked about 2 days
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ago. And you're looking at me funny, like, man, that's a lot of material,
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Glenn. What else can you tell us about it? Go back, and I think they
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recorded some of these, but The byproduct of reproduction
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is twofold. It's spiritual from
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the standpoint of being a soul winner. Replenishing the
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family of God comes through soul winning, both within
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the family and without the family.
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Within the physical family, the home.
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Without the spiritual family, the church,
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we go out and seek and save the lost. But whether
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in the home or in the church, we're to be symbols
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doing what we read and study, being doers
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of the Word and not hearers only. Practicing what you preach.
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And the world knows the difference. And guess what?
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Let me let you in on this little secret. Your kids
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know the difference too. Your kids
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know if you are a doer and a hearer,
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and they know if you're just a hearer of the word also. You do it
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because I say so, not because I, you know— kids
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are smart. They know us.
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So here are 5 takeaways that I presented yesterday.
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Our purpose of existence as parents is to
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disciple our children.
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Deuteronomy 6, Ephesians 6 both gives the
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outline, gives the authority for
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us doing that. You do it regularly, you do it consistently,
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you do it from the standpoint of glorifying God.
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You take time to do that, and you cannot farm it
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out to someone else.
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The pattern example as parents, we're to be hearers
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and doers of God's word, not just
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grandma's word, somebody else's word. We take
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our lead from God. Why? Because we're KFC
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Christians. From the standpoint
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of priorities, our kids need to know that we're
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devoted to God and to each other and especially
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to them. We have to be.
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Providentially, each and every one of us who
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are KFC Christians have signed a declaration
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of dependence on on God's sacred oracles and
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are submitting to them. And in that submission,
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it will involve some sacrifice.
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In that submission, it will involve doing some things that maybe you don't
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feel like doing or you don't want to do, but you do it out of
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love for Christ. Ephesians 5:21-22.
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And you do it like Christ did it for the church. He gave himself
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He made the sacrifice and he served the church
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by being head of the body, and through which we're
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able to have life today. As initiators of love
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in the family, as the head of the house where I reside,
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it's my job to make sure that I'm that living sacrifice
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for my family, that I'm serving my family,
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And I'm doing it in word and in deed because
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I've signed a declaration of dependency on
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God. It may not always feel right.
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I may not like it sometimes, but I do it because I've signed
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a declaration of dependence on God, with God,
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as I prepare them for eternity. And again,
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one day, I don't know when, and this
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zip code will no longer exist. The elements
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shall be burnt up,
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and the only thing left will be a legacy.
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How did I train my children?
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They looked like me at birth. Will their choices
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resemble me in death?
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These are the 6 dynamic features that we discussed
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this weekend of the Christian family.
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I haven't heard the bell yet, so I'm ready for questions.
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Well, the other matter that
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I want to say to you is parenting has never been
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easy, and you know that. But what
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makes it pleasurable is the fact that I have folks that I can lean upon.
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In the Lord's church, we have a network that
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we can lean upon. Sometimes I call it the SWAT network.
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I may say more about that later.
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We have godly men and women in this
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congregation that really do care
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for you.
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And you should not act as though your problem
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is bigger than their solution, than God's solution.
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God is faithful,
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and he's not willing that any should perish.
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But we can find a solution to our problems.
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You may say, yeah, preacher, but you don't understand my problem.
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Oh, I mentioned life has 3 problems:
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guilt, grief,
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and the grave. Jesus is the answer
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to all 3 of those problems. And representing
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Jesus Christ here on this earth are the scriptures
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and the body of Christ. And brethren,
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I, I'm, I'm honest enough to tell you, I believe that between the scriptures
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and my brethren in Christ, we can help you to find a solution to your
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problem. But you're going to have to come.
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You're going to have to yield. You're going to have to submit.
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Submit to your elders. Submit to someone that you trust
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talk to, because this old world won't
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give you the answers. Look around you.
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1 John 2:15,
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lust of the flesh, addictions.
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Lust of the eye, attractions. The pride
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of life, ambitions. Your ambitions, your addictions,
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And your attractions can be a problem for you.
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But Jesus has an answer. The antidote to addictions,
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attractions, and ambitions is
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a submissive knowledge of the Word
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of God. And it will not fail you.
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But you have to come humbly and submissively,
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recognizing that you're not stupid,
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you're not dumb, you just need some help from time to
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time. That's why God placed his
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body, and part of that body has hands to receive those
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who are in need. I thank God for
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the Lord's church. I thank God for you.
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You, the Lord's people, took me
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in at a time when I don't think anybody else would have
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me and taught me a pattern
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example of what parenting should be about.
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Oh, I'm nowhere near perfect. I'm just still broken-down old Hitchcock,
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but my daughter will tell you I
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had fun growing up. My parents were old.
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She went to the Christian school and she knew the Motown sounds
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and records before the teachers. The teachers said, what is that? Mercedes said, well,
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those are— you know, she grew up with old parents.
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Nothing wrong with that, but life was
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a legacy of love and learning,
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and that's all we're doing. Creating a legacy of love where
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we can learn together how to go to heaven together,
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because that's what it's all about. Thank you