Henry Williams

For the context and purpose of the resources below, please listen to my sermon from last weekend if you missed it. I talked about two kinds of resources for discipling your kids at home. The first resource is a great Bible story book. Great Bible story books communicate the whole sweep of the Bible well and tie everything to Jesus. Parents, you are so lucky to live in a day when two books exist that hit it out of the park

The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name by Sally Lloyd-Jones & Illustrated by Jago.

The Gospel Story Bible: Discovering Jesus in the Old and New Testaments by Marty Machowski and Illustrated by A. E. Macha

These books will teach you as a parent how to see the one story of the Bible and read it with Jesus and the gospel always in mind.

What about just reading the Bible as a family? By all means, read the actual stories in the Bible after or before reading the stories in one of these books. And after you've been using these books for a while, it might be time to just read the Bible.

I think the best way to become theologically literate is by growing in biblical literacy. But there is a place for major themes to be synthesized and learned, and that's where a catechism comes in. Here's one I enthusiastically recommend. You can download it for free (be sure to download the instructions, too), but I'd buy the booklet and the devotional that goes with it. This is from the church where my son, Henry Michael, is the youth pastor.

The North Star Catechism by Daniel Montgomery and Jared Kennedy

Here's a bonus resource I think you'll love. It's another way of becoming theologically literate as a family.

Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing by Sally Lloyd-Jones & Illustrated by Jago.

One last thing. You can read these for great profit even if you don't have little kids. Go ahead. Pick one up and see you what you think.

Here's the sermon from last weekend in 10 Tweets, "The What and the Why," Rule of Life: God in My Everything

1/ This series is about walking consciously and intentionally through your day with God, wherever you go and in whatever you do.

2/ God wants to be involved in your everything personally. He wants your what, when, where, who and how directed toward him and by him.

3/ Ever had a great experience at a hotel, start to finish? The systems that they have in place to keep values alive is their Rule of Life.

4/ Peter Scazzero: “A Rule of Life, very simply, is an intentional, conscious plan to keep God at the center of everything we do.”

5/ Peter Scazzero: “The starting point and foundation of any Rule of Life is a desire to be with God and to love him.”

6/ If you are a growing believer, you already have a Rule. If you aren't growing in deeper love for God, you don't have a Rule or it's broken.

7/ Why a Rule? Because living with God in our everything requires intentional practice. And we need reminders.

8/ Pray without ceasing. (1 Thes. 5: 17) How? It takes systems and practice. Intentional practice until it becomes more & more natural.

9/ The Rules themselves are often the means by which we connect with God (e.g., fixed prayer times).

10/ A Rule of Life is neither a measure of spirituality nor a means of meriting God’s favor.