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We’re in a new series that I’m calling Practical Christianity. The general idea of the series is found in Paul’s words in Philippians 2:12-13 - work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. We do not work for our salvation, but once we have been saved and come into a relationship with God, we spend our lives learning to work out the implications of our salvation, of the gospel, into every aspect of our life, as God works in us. Over the next couple of months, this is my goal, to help you work out your salvation into your love life, family, work, money, friendship, church, city, and personal growth. Last week we looked at the gospel’s implications for your love life, and this morning the focus is going to be on parenting. Please understand this is not “7 steps to becoming the most awesomest parent ever,” but a look at the practical differences believing the gospel makes in your parenting. I am going to be going for wide instead of deep today, giving you nine implications and allowing you to go with the ones that are most relevant to your life, instead of focusing on one or two in greater depth. Even if you are not a parent, I believe these principles apply if you ever have the opportunity to be an influence in the maturity of a person.

We began this series by talking about the gospel, and if you weren’t there, I would encourage you to go on our website and listen to that sermon from Easter. The three elements of the gospel that I focused on were:

1) Salvation and justification by grace

2) New life

3) A certain hope

This morning I am going to take one element at a time, summing it up with three statements, and then giving three implications for parenting from that element.