“Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other.” (Colossians 3:16a NLT)

Mission — Every day you teach people about God. You may teach Truth or you may teach mythology; either way you teach. You teach others that God is faithful or that he can’t be trusted, and you do that by reflecting faith in God, or by behaving as if he can’t be trusted.

As if.

Some of us carry a myth in our minds that the only people who can teach are the gifted or the professional, yet the Apostle Paul says, “I know that you have all the knowledge you need and that you are able to teach each other.” (Romans 15:14b NCV)

Certainly teaching includes unpacking Bible stories and giving theological insight, but we also teach as we model biblical behavior when it comes to the stuff of life, such as how to love/respect your spouse, how to make godly decisions, how to keep our thought-life pure, or how to get out of debt.

That means we become teachers when we tell, show, reflect how God is working in our lives, and we become teachers when we respond, act, walk as if Jesus himself were living through us (and he is – Romans 8:9-11). By watching you, others will see what “Christ in you” looks like in another human being. (Colossians 1:27 NIV)

So what?

· Being a living teacher makes you wise – Paul says, “Let the words of Christ live in your heart.” You need to know God’s Word before you can teach it through study or by living it. By hearing, reading, studying, memorizing, and meditating on the words of Christ, they’ll take root in your heart, and this will make you wise. (Romans 15:14b NCV)

· God’s wisdom over conventional wisdom – Too often we look to the world’s conventional wisdom when we’re seeking answers, yet the Truth is found only in God’s wisdom.

Question: What wisdom has the Lord blessed you with that you can share with others?

 “[T]he Son of God came so we could recognize and understand the truth of God—what a gift!—and we are living in the Truth itself, in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. This Jesus is both True God and Real Life.” 1 John 5:20 (MSG)

When we go on mission for God, like Jesus, we “teach the way of God in accordance with the truth” (Luke 20:21). We report that Truth is a person and that God is love.

We report what we’ve seen and what we’ve heard, what God has done and what he does, what he’ll do in our lives and what he’s done in the lives of others (Matthew 11:4–5).

We tell them of a love so powerful it defeats all fear, all hatred, all injustice, and all sin. We tell them of a love that lasts forever and ever, that is never-ending.

We tell others that Jesus is the Truth and that he is the only way to life with the Father (John 14:6). We tell them “that the Son of God came so we could recognize and understand the truth of God—what a gift!—and we are living in the Truth itself, in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. This Jesus is both True God and Real Life” (1 John 5:20 MSG).

Question: Who has God placed in your life for you to “teach the way of God in accordance with the truth”?

>> Watch part 15 of this series: Asking Your Kids Good Questions Part 2

How can you be a hero to your kids? And why is it so important today? This video series taught by Josh McDowell gives answers, and offers a game plan based on the principles taught by Jesus. Josh is an internationally recognized author and public speaker, and over his long career has addressed more than 10 million young people, giving over 24,000 talks in 118 countries. Here he explores how to be a hero to your children drawing on his own experience as a father to his four children.

In this video, Josh says: “Relationships with our children. What I’d like to do for a number of segments is just share with you some things I try to be creative as a father to relate to my children. I’m going to deal with different issues, and phrases, and examples of things you can do. For example, I would always say to my children, “What would you like to do that we have never done before? Is there anything you’d like to do with Dad that you’ve never done before?”

>> Watch part 15 of this series: Asking Your Kids Good Questions Part 2

>> Watch part 5 of this series: Family Comes Before Ministry

How can you be a hero to your kids? And why is it so important today? This video series taught by Josh McDowell gives answers, and offers a game plan based on the principles taught by Jesus. Josh is an internationally recognized author and public speaker, and over his long career has addressed more than 10 million young people, giving over 24,000 talks in 118 countries. Here he explores how to be a hero to your children drawing on his own experience as a father to his four children.

In this video, Josh says: “It’s very important that our children understand love, what it means to love and all. And one of the things I’ve struggled with my children is my three daughters and my son would grow up, how do they know if they’re in love? How do they really know if they love someone? And I finally concluded this: That one of the greatest heritages I can leave my children is my love for their mother and her love for me.”

>> Watch part 5 of this series: Family Comes Before Ministry

>> Watch part 14 of this series: Asking Your Kids Good Questions Part 1

How can you be a hero to your kids? And why is it so important today? This video series taught by Josh McDowell gives answers, and offers a game plan based on the principles taught by Jesus. Josh is an internationally recognized author and public speaker, and over his long career has addressed more than 10 million young people, giving over 24,000 talks in 118 countries. Here he explores how to be a hero to your children drawing on his own experience as a father to his four children.

In this video, Josh says: “With our children, to pass values on them, we need to be honest about our own past. And you know what I found? The more I could share, not just positive but even negative things out of my past with my children, the greater impact it has in their life. And they can see that their father, their mother is real.”

>> Watch part 14 of this series: Asking Your Kids Good Questions Part 1

>> Watch part 9 of this series: Talking to Kids about Ethics

How can you be a hero to your kids? And why is it so important today? This video series taught by Josh McDowell gives answers, and offers a game plan based on the principles taught by Jesus. Josh is an internationally recognized author and public speaker, and over his long career has addressed more than 10 million young people, giving over 24,000 talks in 118 countries. Here he explores how to be a hero to your children drawing on his own experience as a father to his four children.

In this video, Josh says: “One of the most important things we need to pass onto our children are our values. Why are things right, why are things wrong, what do we value or not? And I have learned as a father the best way to do that is through interaction with my children.”

>> Watch part 9 of this series: Talking to Kids about Ethics

>> Watch part 4 of this series: Teaching Kids What Love is About

How can you be a hero to your kids? And why is it so important today? This video series taught by Josh McDowell gives answers, and offers a game plan based on the principles taught by Jesus. Josh is an internationally recognized author and public speaker, and over his long career has addressed more than 10 million young people, giving over 24,000 talks in 118 countries. Here he explores how to be a hero to your children drawing on his own experience as a father to his four children.

In this video, Josh says: “One of the most important things I can do for my children is to love their mother. But I always try and find out from my kids what does love mean to them? How do they know I love their mother?”

>> Watch part 4 of this series: Teaching Kids What Love is About

How can you be a hero to your kids? And why is it so important today? This video series taught by Josh McDowell gives answers, and offers a game plan based on the principles taught by Jesus. Josh is an internationally recognized author and public speaker, and over his long career has addressed more than 10 million young people, giving over 24,000 talks in 118 countries. Here he explores how to be a hero to your children drawing on his own experience as a father to his four children.

1. How to Be a Hero to Your Kids
2. The Mother & Father Relationship
3. How Do You Show Your Love?
4. Teaching Kids What Love is About
5. Family Comes Before Ministry
6. How to Listen to Your Kids
7. Teaching God’s Truth to Kids
8. Passing on a Parent’s Values
9. Talking to Kids about Ethics
10. Be the Source of Your Kids’ Information
11. Look for Teachable Opportunities
12. Dealing with Kids’ Tough Questions
13. Sharing Your Past with Your Kids
14. Asking Your Kids Good Questions Part 1
15. Asking Your Kids Good Questions Part 2
16. Asking Your Kids Good Questions Part 3
17. Affirming Your Kids
18. Fun Family Connection Activities
19. Encourage Good Parent Child Communication
20. Find Creative Ways to Connect With Kids

Want to discuss what you learned in this series, or have any questions about what you heard? Contact an online mentor to talk about it, privately & confidentially.

>> Watch part 18 of this series: Fun Family Connection Activities

How can you be a hero to your kids? And why is it so important today? This video series taught by Josh McDowell gives answers, and offers a game plan based on the principles taught by Jesus. Josh is an internationally recognized author and public speaker, and over his long career has addressed more than 10 million young people, giving over 24,000 talks in 118 countries. Here he explores how to be a hero to your children drawing on his own experience as a father to his four children.

In this video, Josh says: “You know one of the best things is to help our children to be able to express appreciation — to be able to have a confidence in saying to someone why you like them or that you love them and why they’re special to you. And in the book of Psalms chapter 139 it says how we are created in the image of God, that he formed us out of the dust of the earth, and God said, “You cannot number my thoughts about you.”"

>> Watch part 18 of this series: Affirming Your Kids

>> Watch part 7 of this series: Teaching God’s Truth to Kids

How can you be a hero to your kids? And why is it so important today? This video series taught by Josh McDowell gives answers, and offers a game plan based on the principles taught by Jesus. Josh is an internationally recognized author and public speaker, and over his long career has addressed more than 10 million young people, giving over 24,000 talks in 118 countries. Here he explores how to be a hero to your children drawing on his own experience as a father to his four children.

In this video, Josh says: “If you do not communicate with your children, if you do not listen to them and share with them, you will never become a hero to your child. And what I had to learn was to listen to my kids. Now, I didn’t come up with a couple these ideas myself; it was my wife mentoring me on what to do. And these are some of the things I did that I would suggest to you if you have children.”

>> Watch part 7 of this series: Teaching God’s Truth to Kids