Message from Bobby McGraw on August 16, 2022
In this episode of the weekday podcast, Pastor Bobby McGraw encourages parents, grandparents, and mentors to bring other voices into their children's lives to help pass on faith. He highlights the importance of community, noting that while a parent's voice is the most important, it can't be the only one. Drawing from Deuteronomy 6 and examples like Timothy, Pastor Bobby reminds us that faith is best passed down through a collective effort. He challenges listeners to identify other trusted adults—like small group leaders, mentors, or teachers—who can help kids experience personal, face-to-face interactions that reinforce the same values and beliefs.
Well hey friends, thanks so much for being with us on another weekday podcast. If you don't mind, drop us a note today at prayer at sugarhillchurch.com, prayer at sugarhillchurch.com, and just let us know what one thing we could be praying for you today. We'd be honored to do that.
Well today, I want to spend just a couple minutes and talk about one of the powerful things that every parent could do, every grandparent could do, every aunt and uncle to do, to help ensure the next generation catches your faith. And this idea is to bring in other voices. Other voices that can come alongside you. Other voices that can support your vision, your desire, your dreams. Other voices that can honestly say the same thing you say in a different way. One of the things that I love about the Hebrew roots of our faith is that there was this community aspect to walking with God.
In fact, in Deuteronomy 6, when Moses is addressing thousands of people, he's addressing the people of God, knowing that he's about to hand down his leadership role, he's gonna pass away one day, and one of the things that he says as he addresses them is he says, Hear, O Israel. Now think about that. In an age where we like to focus on individual faith and individual walk with God, though that's important, Moses addressed the whole crowd. In other words, when Moses was speaking, he realized that it takes a tribe, it takes a clan, or in our day and age, it takes a church or a nation to impart life to the next generation. And scripture is full of these examples.
Timothy, he had his mother, he had his grandmother, he had Paul, he had people in his life that could pour into him beyond his parents. And so I want to say this to every parent, that as a parent, your voice will always be the most important voice to your child, but it cannot be the only voice. Let me say that again. As a parent, your voice will always be the most important voice, but it cannot be the only voice. In other words, you need supporting voices in your life, other voices that will say the same thing.
This might be a small group leader, this might be a mentor, this might be all pro-dad, it could be a coach, a teacher, adopted aunts and uncles. You get the idea. You need other people in your life that can be connected with your child.
Why is that so important? Because I really see that kids are starving for face-to-face time with an adult, personal interaction. In fact, I heard it said this way one time, that this is the first generation that has seen the tops of their parents' heads because we're just looking down at our devices.
So let me ask you this question. Who are those voices? Who are those people that you can enlist for the purpose of pouring into your child or your grandchild, your niece or nephew, so that they catch the faith from you?
Have a great day. We'll see you back here soon. Thanks so much for joining us today for the weekday podcast.
