• Private Group for Christian Moms with weekly lives with Angie tolpin
• Weekly podcast Q&A with episode behind the scenes content. Just type in your question!
• Exclusive biblical resources such as the Courageous Marriage and Redeeming Childbirth series.
• Exclusive access to the courageous kid’s podcast. Play it for your kids to stir up good discussions.
• Monthly LIVE Q&A with the Tolpins; ask the anything.
• Powerful Biblically minded community.
• Topic-based discussion groups.
• You get your own profile and can connect with others.
• Growing libraries of LIVE replays

All Ministry Resources: becourageousministry.org

Our Courses

• Parenting Mentor Program, self-paced online program that equips you to biblically parent during unprecedented times.
• The Homeschooling Blueprint, the online program to boost your effectiveness & help your kids thrive.
• Postpartum Course, The First-Ever Christian Postpartum Course.
• Cultivating Biblical Friendships  The course that helps women build lasting Godly friendships.

• Financial Giving, is important to support our family and expand the impact of the ministry. We aim to impact 10 million  legacies. We are in full-time ministry as a large family, so everything makes a difference. 

Thank you for being part of this movement to equip 10 million families and their legacies with Biblical truth to raise confident Christian kids in an uncertain world.

Full Transcript:

Note: This is an automated transcript and misspells or grammar errors may be present.

Welcome to Courageous Parenting Podcast, a weekly show to equip parents with biblical truth on raising confident Christian kids in an uncertain world.

Hi, I’m Angie from Courageous.

Mom and Isaac from Resolute Man Together pursuing the mission to impact 10 million families and their legacies for the Kingdom of God.

We’ve been married for 23 years and are seeing the fruit from raising our nine children biblically. Based on the raw truth found in the Bible.

We can no longer let the culture win the hearts of children, as too many from Christian families are walking away from their faith by the age of 18. And it doesn’t have to be this way. It shouldn’t be this way.

We’re praising the Lord. That ministry continues to expand and impact more legacies. We couldn’t do this without you. Whether you pray for us, give us five star reviews, or share on social.

Or even if you purchase courses and merch or join the Be Courageous app community, enjoy the coffee or support financially. We’re so thankful you are a big part of the 10 Million Legacies movement.

If you want access to all the episodes, show notes, and other biblically based resources, go to Be Courageous Ministry.

Org. Join us as we start another important conversation about effective parenting in a fallen world. Hey, welcome to the podcast everyone. We’re so glad to be here, especially after vacation. Right?

I know this is the first podcast back. Oh, I’m so excited for this new season that we’re in. Yeah.

Season six, can you believe it? Episode 281 crazy. Never missed a week since started. Praise the Lord. We hope that is what continues. Yeah that’s.

Right. So you guys today we’re talking about a really important topic influences in your kids lives. Um, we’re talking about equipping kids for bad peer influences. Um, I, you know, this is a big conversation we’re going to keep try to keep it succinct, right. We’re going to try to keep it to 30 minutes today or less. And we’re he laughs because none of them.

Are I told her, you know, if we’re going to be 30 minutes, it’s got to be three scriptures.

I have for for.

Okay, we’ll see. Miracles do happen.

That’s right. No, but we you guys we want to keep it, um, relevant to you. But we also, you know, us. We’re always trying to stay as biblical as possible. And sometimes there’s too many Bible verses to share.

I think there’s a certain group of people that appreciate that.

Yeah, probably the like minded moms like me.

And then there’s a really busy moms that are like, well, it was a little long.

Yeah, just get it out. Get it out. All right. So, you know, obviously bad influences are inevitable. Um, the Bible talks about that. Um, the very first verse we’re going to keep it real short is first Corinthians 1533, which is actually quoting the Old Testament says, do not be deceived. Bad company ruins good morals. Obviously, if God put that Bible verse in the Bible, it’s because it’s a it’s a warning because it happens. Bad company ruins good morals. That happens to people. We’re all influenceable.

I would say that’s happening more than parents having strong influence with their children that are Christians.

Yeah, like if you to evaluate bad influences having impact on what kids believe. I mean, it just parents having influence on what kids believe. I mean.

Let’s just be really honest. If you look at the stats, 70 to 80% of the Christian kids leaving the church by age 18, then what does that mean? Somebody is influencing children more than their parents are towards waywardness. And what is that someone? It is likely usually peer influences.

It has to.

Be.

Yes. Or even just uh, teacher influences also that. Right. Which, you know, this is the thing though is we were talking about this, this is the reason why this is such a big topic is because of what is being taught, even in schools, to other children who are then your kids peers. Right. So there’s also this peer influence of um, doc, false teaching, um, confusion of what to believe and what convictions to hold tight to or not to. Um, and the reality is, is that, you know, when kids go to school, for example, and they’re spending between 30 and 38 hours a week with peers and teachers and a curriculum that maybe is not as like minded as parents would like to think they are. Um, and a lot of parents send their kids to school thinking they’re just learning math and English and grammar and that sort of thing. But the truth is, they’re not just learning that. Um, and so recognizing like, okay, so if my kids are spending this many hours learning this, but then how many hours am I honestly teaching them doctrine, teaching them what the Bible says about how we’re supposed to live as Christians? You can’t even compare the two, right?

This is such an important topic, important topic, and it’s nuanced school, right? So we’re not going to answer every detailed question about it, but we will give you things that help you think about your situation. And let’s just talk about a few situations. You might be living in a neighborhood. There might be neighbor kids that always want to play with your kids and so forth. There might be, uh, you know, cousins in the family. There might be, uh, people at, um, at church, even at.

Church, not like minded or kids that are coming to youth group who are not from Christian homes, but they’re coming because they were invited or.

Education settings, even even homeschooling parents are a lot of times putting their kids into, um, hybrid situations where they homeschool, but they have they go one day a week or something like that, charter school and don’t, you know, don’t let your guard down just because something’s Christian and kids are getting together and it seems better than something else you chose, then it doesn’t mean it’s better. It doesn’t mean actually the peer influences are better when no one’s looking. So you have to be vigilant to do the things we’re talking about that equip your children, you know? And in business. What do they teach? They teach, uh, you know, teach a man to fish and he’ll be taken care of. I forget the saying, right. But I think parents that just isolate and don’t equip is like, is like not teaching a man to fish, instead just just giving him what he needs, giving him the fish. But then when you’re gone, he still doesn’t know how to fish. And I think that’s the children that are isolated and raised up in a way where they’re not truly discipled and equipped situationally, even with these situations. Then they watch from the home and they get swayed by peers.

They they flounder because they don’t know what to do. When someone is standing up for their belief that opposes their personal belief and they’re kind of at a crossroad, they’re like, well, I don’t really like conflict. Or is it really Jesus like to argue? They don’t really know quite how to handle things. Right. And so, you know, today we want to talk about like teaching your kids what it means to stand firm, having conversation, conversations with your children, um, and even sharing Scripture verses about what God actually wants of his people, what he has laid out in the Bible as exhortation and teaching regarding how to handle relationships, where people are walking in darkness and recognizing that, like, there’s a difference here between friendship and fellowship and evangelism.

And, you know, this is really cool because if you have some fears in this area, um, you will start to fear less the more you equip your children. Like, I’m not fearful in this area at all. No one is. God tells us not to fear. But the truth is, fear is a human emotion and we all feel sometimes. But so? So that’s God, but also decisions we’re making, like what we’re doing with our children, makes me not fear that.

Well, it’s because it’s like this, right? So we understand that our children are not ours and that they’re actually God’s. Yes. But we also recognize that he gave us a responsibility to raise them up in the way they should go. And believing God’s promise that when they’re old, they won’t turn away from it. Right. Like recognizing that that’s a promise from the Lord. If we’re faithful in the young years and teaching them the way they should go, and because we’re doing all we can to fulfill our responsibility, we like we work hard at it. Yes. Does that mean we’re perfect? No. I literally in the last few days have been evaluating different curriculums and different things I’ve come to. How many times have I come to you? It’s been awesome and I but I’ve come to Isaac going, I think I need the kids to stay home for ten more years. I have so much that I want to teach them. There’s so many cool books that I want to read and discuss with the with the boys who are teenagers. We’re not going to do that. We’re not going to do that. But I but do you get the point? Like there’s always more that we can do as parents, we are by far meeting all of even our own expectations or dreams or desires for what we’re equipping our kids with. However, we’re doing the most important part, which is discipleship and teaching them how to go to the word themselves and teaching them and facilitating and introducing them. More to this, to Jesus. And, you know, the boys, we have teenage boys right now, um, and one teenage daughter, and they all have personal relationships with God. And that is beautiful. That’s their responsibility. And, and but at the same time, as parents, we still have a jurisdiction. But also it’s a delight and a joy to have conversations with them about God. Right?

It is. It really is.

It really is. And when you do that, then it makes it easier for you to trust God because you know, well, I’ve done all I have the capacity to do. So the only thing left is to trust God when they launch, right? Yeah. But if you’re not doing your jurisdiction and you’re not equipping your children, you’re not having hard conversations with them and and talking about the realities of the world, then they’re not going to be prepared. And then you could struggle with anxiety and overwhelm as a parent, if you.

Did exit interviews with all the children that walked away from the church at age 18, I think you would find that parents were often oblivious of where, um, bad company ruined good morals.

Or the doubts that their kids had, and then left them floundering to figure it out on their own. And then they went to peers and got led astray. Yeah, right.

And, you know, it’s it’s over. Delegation of discipleship. It’s, uh, it’s did did you have their hearts in the teenage years because of, you know, really cultivating that? There’s other episodes about that, but it’s also important we’re going to dive in. We have four main points here. We’re going to do rapid fire okay. So but but before we do I got to say one thing is thanks so much for helping the ministry this year. We have a special vision of Double Impact, and there’s so many people that have raised their hand and said, I’m in, I’m praying for you and we thank you so much. We need the prayer. Uh, there’s targets on your back. Anytime you’re leaning in strongly and trying to impact people with the gospel and, um, you know, evangelism. And this is, uh, this ministry is all about evangelism because we’re helping parents evangelize their children. That’s the mission. And and the goal is 10 million legacies. So double impact vision this year is super. Exciting. And you know, we also appreciate all those that share when you share on social media. It makes a huge difference when you share anywhere, when you share with your church. If you’ve gone through the Parenting Mentor program and you share that with leaders in your church and you’re like, hey, let’s do this. It’s hard for a church to have a ministry to parents. It’s I’ve never seen it in a church. Uh, done.

Really seen them go through a book before.

But this is, like, amazing. And there’s a really streamlined way now for churches to do that and obviously individuals to do that. And a lot of times it takes individuals doing it first in the church, and then they spread that with the church. But raising your hand doing that, that helps so much. Uh, giving financially, um, is huge. We we did a fundraiser and we have a ways to go, but we’re so thankful for everybody that raised their hand and said, I’m in in this way. And if, if, if the spirit prompts you go to be courageous Ministry org and you can hit the give button there. Um, all resources to are free that we talk about, uh, you know, with regarding the podcast uh at courageous Parenting.com so you can get all the show notes, scriptures, and we’re on YouTube. So make sure, by the way, this episode, we would love to hear your thoughts. Youtube is such a cool place for us to share together, because you can write comments and we can like it, and we can write comments back, and our commitment is to do that on YouTube. Be courageous. Ministry on YouTube has both podcasts Resolute Man and Courageous Parenting.

Yes, that’s very different than like when people review the podcast on Apple, which we super appreciate. Super, very encouraging. But it’s not really a platform where you do like dialogue back and forth. And so that is the unique aspect of this podcast. Like, you know, we have all the show notes on the that are available at the courageous Parenting.com and Be Courageous ministry. Org. But also that’s a different place. It’s not really a dialogue place. Youtube is where that’s at. Yeah.

So go subscribe there. Hey let’s dive into this okay.

So we already mentioned that there’s a difference between fellowship and friendship right. So that’s one category. And then there’s evangelism. So there’s like different types of friends. And so I think that this is like number one thing that you know, if you when you start having kids and they’re starting to get like age six, age seven, age eight, where you start teaching them verbally, cognitively the importance of choosing wise friends. Obviously, when your kids are really little, you’re the main, um, chooser of the friends. I’m just gonna that’s the best way to say it. You’re the biggest influence you you know, usually people become friends with other parents, and then those kids become friends with your kids. That’s kind of how it works when your kids are really little under age five, six. And then as they start getting involved in more activities, they start getting introduced to more people. Maybe you live in a neighborhood and they start being able to play outside. Your kids are going to come across this, um, dilemma slash great experience called making friends, choosing Friends. And as Christian parents, we need to stand up, raise our hands, go. Okay. Yes to God. I’m gonna say yes to God, and I’m going to teach my kids that they have to choose good friends, that this is a responsibility, that they have to choose good friends.

And part of that is identifying and teaching your kids that there’s that. Some people believe in Jesus and some people don’t believe in Jesus. And I would say that’s like the most foundational way to put it with your younger children. There are people who believe in Jesus, who believe in the Bible like we do, and there are people who believe many different things, and we can love those people. But the purpose for being in their lives is actually something called evangelism, and that is the purpose of those relationships. The purpose is not friendship, the purpose is not fellowship. It’s not going to them for wisdom. It’s not building deep relationships where you’re best friends. It’s evangelism. That’s the purpose. And then you teach what evangelism is. It’s that the whole point that God put them in your life is that you would be a light to them, that you would teach them about God, that you would love them and show them God’s way. That’s the purpose.

And I think the caveat there is they’re building a relationship with them, but there’s a boundary around it where the child understands they’re not going to be a super close friend. They run the race with and fanning the flames, because really, their whole mindset is different when they’re not a believer, especially during these times where there’s a stark difference in lifestyles and what people believe in.

Oh, 100%. And so it’s like, this is a perfect conversation for many people regarding their neighbors, actually, because they may have kids that live next door, but maybe they have are are confused about different things. Right. And you’re trying to navigate okay, so how can we be loving? We can smile at them. We can ride bikes with them.

Hang on. I don’t know what happened.

So this conversation is super relevant for people who have neighbors who are not necessarily Christians. Um, because as parents, we want to be or as neighbors, we want to love our neighbor as ourselves. Absolutely. God’s word says that we’re to love our neighbors, but also when we look at what the collective purpose is for all Christians, we need to recognize we’re trying to teach that to our kids. And one way we do that is through what we model, right? So are we going to provide a meal for our neighbors if we find out that their family is sick? Yeah, that would be a loving thing to do. That would be very different than the world that is so busy and caught up in their own self that they don’t take time to love their neighbor. What about if you’re mowing your lawn and your neighbor hasn’t had a chance to? Or maybe they broke their ankle or something and you just mow their lawn too, or you bring their garbage cans in when you bring your garbage cans in. There are many servant oriented things that you can do that would be loving to show love to your neighbors, smiling, being kind, being nice. But there’s also this element of like as a parent being really realistic of how close you allow people in your inner circle, if you will, as far as their influence on your children. And you know, the Bible is really clear and gives us a lot of warnings. It’s not just about, um, bad morals. Isaac. You have one.

Yeah. It’s in, uh, second Corinthians 614. It says, do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Yeah. I mean, this verse too, like a lot of people will use the unequally yoked as talking about marriage, right? Relationships. And and it is that is applicable to that. But I also think this is applicable to like business partnerships. Yeah, it’s applicable to any kind of deep friendship or commitment to one another. Right. Like and so the reality is, is that God gives us real warnings. But he also says, hey, listen, you are human, you are influenceable. And as parents, we need to have realistic expectations on our kids, recognizing that they are very impressionable. The younger they are, the more impressionable they are. Their worldview is going to be formed somewhere by the time they’re 7 or 8 years old. So we definitely want to be careful about the influences that we allow in our child’s lives. But then beyond that, we want to also and during that time, we want to be training them to have a biblical perspective on the fallen world, be able to love people, but also know what the Bible says and what God calls his people to, so that they can stand firm and be a light. And the truth is, is you know what? What is the collective call that we all have as Christians to be missionaries wherever we are? That’s right. Right. The Great Commission. But in this, a lot of parents will say, hey, yeah, but my kids, you know, kids are little. Are they truly ready to be sharing the gospel? Are they equipped to be missionaries? So I think.

A good question to ask is how’s your discipleship going of your children? And if you expect them to be lights, but your discipleship of your children in your home, the stuff you’re doing, not somebody else, is not strong, how are they to be lights, you know, and are you having conversations? Take a step further. If do you have the kind of relationship with your children where they talk about their interactions with the peers and the real nature of them? And do you have situational coaching happening of how to approach that differently next time to stand firm? And what’s a biblical take on that and these kinds of things? And I would say if you’re not having situational conversations that are really real and you’re not, your discipleship of your children in your home is not strong, then how in the world could we expect our children to stand firm in the faith amongst peers?

Well, especially if they don’t know what they believe or they don’t know what the Bible says about certain topics that they’re going to get challenged on. Right. And so that’s that whole conversation about salt and light. Um, as far as like them being a missionary in the public schools, for example, that’s definitely an argument I hear a lot. And while we’re not going to dive into that too much, I think that it’s really important that we recognize as parents, we have a responsibility to evaluate and have realistic expectations on our kids based upon what we do know they know, first of all, and also like, are they a leader or a follower? Like being honest about that and going, hey, are they more prone to kind of hush up and and not not really defend?

I want to speak to that for a second because you’re talking about are they naturally in their normal, in their personality, in, in how God made them more of someone that is in the forefront and gregarious and leading and confident in that way, and someone that’s more laid back and maybe doesn’t talk as much. And it kind of allows people to lead them. And both are awesome. God made. Them the way they are. But what I will say is, regardless of which way they are. They can all become strong and lead in the situations where they need to.

That’s right when it comes to biblical truth.

But it takes a lot of discipleship and conversations about coaching. Really. Coaching?

Yeah, yeah. Teaching your kids and and like you were saying, role playing. Um, but you know, what does the Bible say about fellowship with darkness? We just talked about that for a second.

Ephesians five eight through one. Yeah. Ephesians five eight through one says, for, for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

You know, it’s interesting we use that part of that verse last week in our conversation just because.

It’s an important.

Time. Well, it’s because of the times that we’re in. Right? Yeah. And like understanding that we need to be aware and alert. Well, as parents, part of our jurisdiction is also teaching our kids how to be aware and alert and be able to discern what is darkness and what is light. And that comes from having a biblical standard of righteousness.

Well, let me give you an example. How about swearing? Let’s just take swearing, for example, because, you know, there’s people out there. If you’ve ever listened to certain podcasts, especially guys, if you listen to some business podcasts and things like that, there’s people swearing sometimes and, you know, so you might not think it’s a big deal, but the Bible actually says it’s a big deal, says it’s a deal. Yeah, actually it’s a deal for believers. At least we’re not to have filthy filthy language.

Mhm. Well and it’s actually a fruit of what is inside.

And do we expect that. Is that a standard. And our, do our children know that, you know bullying and unfruitful language. And these kinds of things are worthy of talking to you about. They won’t know that unless you teach them that that’s actually wrong. And when they’re swearing, Isaac, they’re swearing everywhere. Yeah. But does that.

Mean it’s okay?

It doesn’t mean God loves it.

No, it actually he doesn’t. No he doesn’t. It’s not righteous. It’s. And he says be holy because I’m holy.

Now we we’re not in a position where we think we’re better because we don’t use filthy language. Not at all. We’re not like on some pedestal here, but we do need to teach our children. Otherwise they’re going to adopt ungodly ways of being. And all it takes is a few ungodly ways of being that further leads to more and more waywardness down the road. So why would you not teach your children that that small thing, it actually in comparison to other things is a small thing, but we should be teaching them those things so that they know to come talk to us when those things happen. And it’s not that we’re going to say you can’t hang out with somebody anymore because they do that. It’s it’s to not go along, to get along in those moments when they are doing that. Don’t laugh at the language that incorporated the swearing. Instead, make a point not to laugh.

You know, I just even think about like, what kinds of shows people are watching and different things like that. Like, do you have a standard? Do your kids have a standard? Do they understand why there’s a standard of wanting to protect themselves from watching things that are really of darkness, or are filled with filth and sin? And the important aspect to this is that you have to equip your kids when they’re young, so that when they’re older and they’re teenagers and they are desiring to be more independent and they’re practicing making decisions themselves, they have a conviction, right? Their faith has to be their own to where they have a conviction, and they understand the why behind why they were told not to do that. And they have that same belief in that conviction. Right. It’s the difference is, is the parent that says, don’t watch that. Why? Because I said so. And the parent that says, we’re not going to watch that because this is in it. And this is what the Bible says about that specific sin. And we don’t want to be supporting that. We don’t want to expose ourselves to that. We don’t want to be tempted into that. And and what we’re doing as Christians, you teach your kids what we’re doing is we’re going to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, and we’re going to try to fill ourselves up with goodness, not things that are of evil. And like modeling that over and over and over again with your kids is really important because they are going to be in situations where they’re tempted by peers to watch something that isn’t necessarily something that’s a family standard. And hey, give your kids permission to throw you under the bus and say, hey, my mom and dad just wouldn’t appreciate that, and I’m going to honor my parents if that they can. Our kids know they can do that, but what we would hope is that they get to the place where they have their own spiritual conviction, where they’re like, you know what? I just don’t want to do that because that’s just not fruitful.

Or hey, let’s.

Spiritually, like God’s Word says this, like you would hope that. They would get to the point where they know the Bible well enough, or they have a verse memorized where they can share that with a friend, where they have that kind of relationship, where they can stand firm in a biblical stance. But until they get to that place where they have that kind of confidence to be able to share that and look someone in the eye, they give them other things that they can do to.

Yeah, yeah. It’s so important if someone’s getting bullied, if they’re, you know, stealing something even treats that the parents at the friend’s house don’t, you know, didn’t want them to have anything that is off little things. Because once they get used to little things with those friends, it grows into bigger things.

Say, it’s like if they’re over at a friend’s house and they witness a kid appear being disrespectful to their parents or disobeying their parents over and over and over again, that can be influential in a kid’s life when they come home to your home. We all have experienced something like that before. Does that mean that you don’t let that kid your child play with that kid anymore? That’s what you’re all thinking, right? And most of you have probably made the decision based upon the age of your child. No, we don’t need that in our life. We can. We have plenty of other friends, you know, and I will say, I have made that decision many times in the past, and I still probably will in the future because I have young children. But there comes a it really depends on the age. And I think there comes a time where your kids, if they truly have a heart for God and they are seeing that they’re either going to confront the kid and then the kid’s going to change, or they’re not going to want to be friends with your child anymore. That’s one scenario. Or your own child might go, you know what? I just don’t really want to hang out with them anymore. The more your child gets discipled and experiences God and grows in their relationship with the Lord, the less they are going to desire the things that are of the world. And that includes peer influences. So really like the best thing that we could be doing as parents is discipling our children.

Yeah, hands down knowledge of God pointing them to God, sharing the miracles of God, even the small ones. When God shows up and does something. I just shared one this morning actually at the morning breakfast. It’s private. I’m not going to share it with you, but, uh, but yeah, very, very cool, uh, how God has showed up in something and I’m being obedient even in even kind of against my flesh.

Yeah. So we have another Bible verse that we want to talk to you about in regards to your kids. I kind of mentioned it earlier, but it’s Matthew chapter five, 13 and 14. It says you’re the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its taste, taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. Okay. That’s super.

That reminds me of a Reagan speech. Actually, a city on a hill. I’m talking about America. Well, he was.

Quoting scripture, but he was anyways. So 14 you are a light of the world. As a city on a hill cannot be hidden. There it is. And nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works, and give glory to your father who is in heaven, not to you, to your father who is in heaven. And then it continues on. You guys, this is such a good passage of Scripture to be reading to your kids regularly. Like often I’m thinking, I’m going to go read this to Solomon and Eli right now, actually, as soon as we’re done with the podcast, because, um, it goes along with that song, um, this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it. All right, all right. Well. But, like, listen, when the kids are little, you start out with that song. It’s a catchy tune, and it teaches your kids. Like, if you sing the song with them, that’s great, because they’ll help write the Word of God on their heart. But. But do you explain what that song is and teach your kids? Like, this is part of why we’re in the world to let our light shine. We’re not in the world to keep our light under a bushel. No, we don’t let Satan f it out. We, you know these. This is an exhortation for us as adults. If we’re not living our lives in such a way where we’re modeling this, where we’re standing firm in the faith, and we’re willing to say, you know what? I disagree with that. That’s not okay. Here’s, you know, I think that’s huge. It is.

Huge. I have a little warning for everybody. All of this is good. But if you don’t also teach that we are all fallen, that we all need a savior, though we all need Jesus because we all sin if we don’t teach that God, all people are God’s children. Um, if we don’t teach that perspective, then elitism can grow in your family and that you never want to have happen. Now, if you’re living righteously and training up your kids and you don’t have elitism in your family, some people will still think you do. Because naturally, when you don’t do something that’s happening over here, sometimes you persecute that. But my warning to you is make sure that they have a biblical perspective on human beings, which is that we all need Jesus, and Jesus came for all. This is such an important topic, but I just wanted to take a moment to share two compelling things that are happening. One is the Be Courageous app. It’s been around for a couple of years, but there’s something really radical and awesome happening. Just in the last few weeks, over 100 people have joined the app, and I think part of that is that there’s so much like minded community there and exclusive resources. One of the things that’s happening is the heart of the home series. That is Angie’s original content, mixed with biblical truth and backed by biblical truth and dialogue and engagement with other ladies that are in there. And it’s just so neat to hear about women posting pictures of snacking on the Bible in the midst of their busy day because of one of the sessions and so forth. And so I know that you’re doing this ongoing. We’ve already you’ve already picked out the ten sessions that we’re.

Starting with.

And all replays are available forever. And that’s just part of it, you know, including the marriage series. That’s six hours worth of content that Angie and I did together. That’s in the marriage group. Um, and it’s just such. So check that out and if you would like, um, if you need help with it, if you want a month for free instead of the week, it gives you a week free. But if you need a month to really check it out and the finances are tight, email me Isaac at Courageous Parenting.com. You know.

And while you’re in there too, one of the things that we’ve also loved is being able to do the Courageous Parenting Mentor program it’s in. We also have a group that’s there in the courageous app that’s private. And, you know, I don’t know if you guys know this, but every two weeks ish, because we do these programs, we have been doing these 90 minute lives where it’s 60 minutes of unique teaching on a specific topic that we’ve actually not done a podcast episode on, which is crazy, right? God is so good. But then we do these 30 minute Q and A’s at the end, and we every time there’s at least 1 to 2 questions that we’ve never gotten before, which has been really encouraging for us because it helps us with knowing what’s relevant, what people are dealing with today. And we get to dive into that even more. Sometimes we’ll we’ll use those questions as inspiration for these podcasts. So we just love that you guys are connecting with us. I want to say thank you to that and invite you guys to join us and find out more about that at Be Courageous Ministry. Org. So let’s.

Get back to the.

Episode. So our final word is in second Timothy chapter four. Verse two says preach the word. Preach the word. We are to preach the word, but we have to teach our kids how to preach the word so that they can do the evangelism part to the people who would be the considered the the peer influencers that we wouldn’t necessarily want them to be around. But it says be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with complete patience and teaching, for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but have itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. Listen. As for you, always be sober minded. Endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry.

I have a weird thought. You know, the first, uh, the first. I think this is true for my memory. The first book I’ve read to somebody else out loud was my Own Children. Pretty sure that’s true. You may.

Have quoted on stage two, other people have.

Quoted. I’ve given speeches and things like, but actually reading a book out loud and making it sound interesting, at least trying because it probably wasn’t very good at it at first, I remember. Yeah, but I think that that is I just bring that up because it said preach the Word. The Bible just told us to do something. And do you feel adequate and capable to preach the word? It’s not telling you you need to be a pastor. You need to be a bishop or an elder, which are the same thing or a, you know, some kind of leader in that capacity to be able to preach the word. The Bible was given to us, to all of us, to be able so we could preach the word most importantly to our children. And so what are you going to do with that now that you’re hearing that in this podcast? What if you’re somebody who doesn’t feel capable of that? Well, what? God ask us to do something. If some of his people weren’t capable of doing it.

No. He made us all capable to be able to preach the word. That’s why he told us all to do it. But I also think of the other part of that scripture that was talking about there would be a time when people will find doctrines that are itching to their ears, and they’ll they’ll find themselves wandering off into myths. That is totally we live in that day and age. That day has been here for thousands of years all over the world. It keeps happening over and over. It’s happening and it’s going to continue to happen. Which means we as parents have to be realistic about the fallen world we live in, recognizing that there are going to be peers that fall for those. Itching ear, wayward philosophies and teachings, and they’re going to potentially be introduced to our kids. They’re going to play soccer or they’re going to meet them rock climbing or whatever it is. And the truth is, though, is is your kid educated enough? Have they been preached to, taught, rebuked, exhorted, discipled to be able to discern and recognize when there’s an itching ear kind of doctrine, if you will? And are they also going to be willing to go, hey, I, I don’t agree with that. You know, I believe what the Bible says.

So let’s just do a quick review. I think that’s important. Right? So are the peer influences Christians? If they’re not? The goal is evangelism. Have you taught your children the difference between really running the race with other believers that you can trust and those that you’re building relationships with? But the purpose is to share the gospel with them, okay? And to love them and serve them. Do they know how to share the gospel and do they know how to share that? So the kinds of relationships they want to have, right. That’s really important. Are we do we have open communication with them and are we cultivating that where they’re sharing back with us Intel about the things happening in their peer relationships, so that you can coach them on how to do that? Even better. Have you opened that up? Have you talked about that? And the third thing is, are you discipling them, or are your expectations of them being a light because they they express faith in Jesus and they’ve been baptized, but there’s been no discipleship other than youth programs. What are you thinking. Mhm. Like they need to be taught over and over again. And there needs to be situational dialogue about situations. And they need to grow strong in their faith and these kinds of things. And if your children are not believers themselves then you’ve got to be careful because they can’t do some of those steps yet, right?

In which case then you need to step in and you need to say, hey, I don’t think this is a good friend for you and teaching them why biblically. And you know, this, that’s that’s the hard part in parenting is sometimes you have to set boundaries. Sometimes you have to say no to things. And so you need to be realistic about where your kid is at. You need to be praying for them. You need to pray for wisdom, but you also need to teach them the importance of choosing good friends and the distinction between when it’s a friend that they’re leading to the Lord, and when it’s a friend that they can trust who is like minded.

And a beautiful answer for this, by the way, just came to my mind is the Parent Team Mentor program. If you have not gone through that yet, that is such an essential thing for understanding it. Not so much for what we share, but for what the Bible shares. We’re literally obviously, we’re taking biblical truth. Our experience of, you know, 23 years of parenting, uh, nine kids, ages 2 to 23 right now, grandparents. So we don’t have every wisdom, but we do have some wisdom. And God has called us to put this thing together that has impacted thousands of parents to have a different legacy that are intentional Christians. If you’re listening and you consider yourself an intentional Christian, that’s who we made this for. It’s it’s to actually enable you to disciple and to do these things in and point your kids to Jesus in a really authentic, ongoing, daily way. You know.

I love that we call it mentor program because we really have said yes to being mentors, to these families, to these couples, as we’re going through and doing the lives and the Q and A’s, and they have access to messaging us in the app while they’re in there with us. But really, we’re discipling you and how to disciple your kids. Yeah, really. That’s like the heart. And I think that what’s really cool about it is the fruit that has come out of it in marriages, too. So I hope you guys will consider joining us. Find out more about it at Be Courageous Ministry. Org, thanks.

For joining us.

Hey, thanks for listening and being a part of the 10 Million Legacies movement. Go to be Courageous Ministry. Org for more biblically based resources, ways to switch where you spend your money that support the mission and information about the incredible Be Courageous app community for believers.

Also, we wanted to quickly tell you about our six week online Parenting Mentor program.

Isaac and I created a powerful biblical curriculum. Here’s how it works. Each week, we release a video session with a downloadable parenting packet to make it easy for you to incorporate those teachings directly into your parenting.

This is an incredible, self-paced program. We cover everything from tending to their hearts, handling obedience to overcoming mistakes most Christians are making. But more than that, it’s a supportive community. You’ll have access to our private group and the Be Courageous app, live webcasts and direct access to us.

If you’re interested in joining our next online Parenting Mentor program, secure your spot now at Be Courageous Ministry. Org that’s Be Courageous Ministry org.