Joseph Stephen

“Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth." Psalm 127:4Arrows in the wrong hands can cause a lot of destruction. Well-trained arrows, however, can save a nation. No arrow will change course mid-flight. I am not saying that a right environment guarantees our children's salvation. It most certainly does not. Children are born sinners. We do however, give them a great head start by helping them to curb passions and learn self-control and other godly traits. They must ultimately repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for personal salvation, and they will still deal with sin as we all must. We do, however, prepare the soil for receiving the seed of God's word. Seed sown in good soil will bear much fruit.”

“Your children will be like olive shootsaround your table." -Psalm 128:3Children are likened to olive plants. Olive plants, if not pruned and controlled, become a wild nuisance. On the other hand, small olive plants that are nurtured and trained in the way they should grow do not grow wild and do not have scars from pruning since the pruning is done while they are young and tender. The later you do the training, the more scars they will have and the less likely there will will be success in directing their growth.”

“Strong families make strong churches.”

“The rationale of family-based discipleship is multi-generational faithfulness to God. We must learn the lessons of history lest we repeat the mistakes of the past.”

“You can't just add a smattering of verses to a humanistic worldview.”

“I am not saying that studying rocket science is wrong, but our emphasis on education without regard to the fulfillment of God's purposes, God's distinct roles for men and women, or godly character is wrong.”

“If the Lord is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.”

“It has rightly been said that what we allow in moderation, our children will allow in excess.”

“Any work of God must begin with His own Word, or it is doomed to fail.”