Live by Faith and Honor your parents

Hey good morning – its Mr. Sputo - well at least it is morning here. I hope that you have had a great summer. I am so glad to see that you are trying to live by faith and follow Jesus.
Jesus wants you to honor your parents. So today I want to talk about how do you have your own faith while honoring your parents?

For some of you, your faith is not the same as your parents and your family.  For this reason, it is VERY important how you live.

The reason why I said this so carefully is because People will judge us more by our actions than our words.
So in the same way, your parents and your family are more likely to respect your faith by how you live rather than by what you say.

That’s why it is very important that you obey Jesus' commands to love and honor your parents.
Jesus wants you to be the best child in your family  – so that when your parents see your great love and honor they will know that this goodness comes from the one true God.  
The LORD wants you to obey your parents in everything – well almost everything
– THE  ONLY  TIME you should not obey your parents is if your parents tell you to do something that breaks God’s law.

For example – now I am not saying this would happen – but suppose your parents tell you to kill someone or to tell a lie or to steal something.
We know from the bible that the LORD does NOT want you to kill, lie or steal.  
These things are evil and we should not do them – even if it means that your parents might get angry at you for not doing them – but deep down in their hearts they will respect you because they know that these things are wrong and that you did the right thing.
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The same is true of your families’ traditions.
Some of the traditons that you grew up with might break God’s laws.
If you are not sure if they do – ask us here at APJ and we’ll help you to understand what the bible says about it.
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Even when your parents see that you are their best child, there is a chance that they will reject you.
If this happens, it will be very difficult for you, but you must remember, that they are NOT rejecting you.   They are really rejecting Jesus who is in you!
This is nothing new. People have been rejecting Jesus since the beginning in of time.  That is why they crucified Him!  
But you must pray for strength and courage to continue to love and honor your parents.Because you love and want to honor your parents, one of the most important things that you must do is to pray for your parents – pray every day that the LORD would open your families’ eyes to see and believe in Jesus.
And remember that Jesus said that He will never leave you nor forsake you.