Episode 652: TLP 652: The Mission of Truth.Love.Parent.

Parenting Is Worship, Not Self-Fulfillment

They train for hundreds of hours before even taking their new skills into the real world. They're so incredibly serious about this opportunity. They sacrifice everything to make it successful. Parenting isn't about us.

In fact, parenting isn't even about our kids. Parenting is just one way Christian dads and moms are to worship God. So welcome to the Truth Love Parent podcast, where we train dads and moms to give God the preeminence in their parenting.

It's nice to be meeting with you again on this, our 37th season of ministry. My name is Aaron M. Brewster, and I'm the president and founder of Truth Love Family and the Truth Love Parent podcast. We have so much to talk about today, so let's just dive right in.

Continuing Truth Love Parent Despite Funding Shortfalls

First, if you've listened to us at all this year, then you know we were coming up on a very significant anniversary in September of 2026. We celebrated our 10th year podcasting and our 7th year as a 501c3 nonprofit.

Those are both huge milestones, and we're abundantly joyful to have had this length of time at this endeavor. But I also told you that we needed to raise $100 ,000 if we have any hope of making this ministry financially stable and allowing me to pour in full-time.

Well, our anniversary came and went, and I took the month of October off to pray and seek counsel as to whether I should close up shop or continue doing whatever it is I can do. So I'm here to share with you my current trajectory.

Back in 2020, the goal was to do Truth Love Family full-time by creating content, writing books, counseling, and speaking. As time went by, I needed to take time away from the ministry in order to provide for my family because the donations just didn't cover the expenses.

At first, it was about 90 of my time dedicated to TLP and 10 to other work, and then it was 50 -50, and then I kept having to pull away from the ministry in order to make ends meet. That's kind of what happens when you have kids going off to college, too.

Thankfully, the odd jobs I work provide me the flexibility to invest more time as needed into the ministry. This is how I've been able to continue traveling when I get an invitation or counseling when people ask for help.

For example, the Hares at Grace Christian School in Bennington, Vermont have invited me to participate in a program they've created for the families at their school and community. It's called Rooted, and we're trying to build deep faith and strong homes, and I love it so much.

My ability to participate in that program twice a semester has everything to do with the jobs that I work that give me that kind of flexibility. And as sad as it is, I've had a number of people reach out to me recently looking for counsel, and I love that I can take those calls when they come in.

Continuing the Ministry Through Weekly Resources

So my goal right here right now is to continue doing what I can for this ministry as I'm able to provide for my family's needs, because we did not come anywhere near raising $100 ,000. In fact, to be honest, we probably raised maybe a little under $1 ,000.

Therefore, I'm going to continue producing these podcast episodes every week with breaks for holidays, of course. Now, this will keep truth pouring into the marketplace of life. It can be found by people.

Lord willing, more and more people will continue to find us and be built up in Christ because of it. And as people are blessed with this resource, Lord willing, they'll check out the Evermind app, get a copy of my book, Quit! How to Stop Family Strife for Good, maybe seek some counseling, talk to their pastors about inviting me to speak, and potentially even donating to the ministry.

I think that is a worthwhile endeavor. So, plan to join us every week on Tuesdays for your next installment of Biblical Truth for Your Family and Parenting, and then share this resource with your friends and partner with us so that the more resources we have, the more we can create.

And if you already give, please keep giving or maybe even increase your giving, because the more you give, the more biblical family resources we can create and the more families we can serve. So, you might ask, what will these podcast episodes teach us?

The Mission of Biblical Parenting

Well, our mission has always been to glorify God by teaching families, especially the parents, to faithfully submit to Him and His word. Let's break this down in a really practical way. Nearly every parenting situation I encounter has one key thing in common.

The parents aren't truly being biblical parents. They might be being nice parents. They may be being ethical parents. They're sometimes even good parents, but they're not biblical parents. And of course, I'm not even talking about the many bad parents who are also looking for help.

So, what is it to be a biblical parent? Well, we have hundreds of resources all about that. That is not an over-exaggeration. You can start by checking out the links, of course, in the description of this episode for some specific examples.

But please allow me to reveal its most fundamental parts. Number one. Most parents are not passionately and aggressively studying the Bible to know, understand, and trust God better. The last time I was in Vermont, I told everyone about a new brain-building exercise I have.

Now, there are many people who do this exact same exercise that I do, and they dedicate thousands of hours to this endeavor, not to mention even tens of thousands of dollars to it. Now, I'm not spending any money on it, so that's a completely different side note.

But these people, they train, they study, and they practice for hundreds of hours before even taking their new skills into the real world. They are so incredibly serious about this opportunity that they turn their lives upside down, frequently go without creature comforts, they network and build relationships with other people who have this exact same hobby, and they risk being grossly misunderstood and potentially even judged and even persecuted for what they're doing.

Wow, Aaron, what kind of new hobby do you have? That's really not the point. It's not about the hobby, and I'm not into it the same way they are. It's just a good brain-building exercise for me. But the point is, and the application for our discussion today, is that our society is filled with millions and millions of people absolutely upending their lives because they are absolutely convinced they found the secret to happiness or success.

Consider the transgender movement for a moment, in an effort to be more precise. These individuals are so fully convinced they're right, they will permanently destroy their bodies and do everything they can to infect everyone else around them with their belief system.

And while all of this is playing out, while people pursue their hobbies and lifestyles with absolute abandon, oftentimes sacrificing relationships and time and money to do it, professing Christians and professing Christian parents might take their families to church on Sunday.

And then they come to me asking for help with their child, and I ask them about family devotions, or I ask them to explain to me how they're discipling their children, or we talk about how they handle disobedience, and they're rarely doing any of it.

Most parents are not passionately and aggressively studying the Bible to know, understand, and trust God better. They're not combing the scriptures to make sure they know God's mind about the thousands of life choices they and their children make every week.

And then come the excuses about busy schedules. Sometimes the parent will even suggest something like, well, I didn't go to Bible school like you did. My friends, I don't want to sound harsh. I want all of this to sound like exactly what it is, coming from a heart of genuine love for you and for God.

But parenting is the third most important relationship in your life. Why is the world sacrificing comfort and time and money in order to passionately pursue their beliefs, but we won't strain just a little to know the God we say we completely believe in?

Now, this is hard to swallow. It's not because of how I'm saying it. It's because we all know that we don't pursue the Lord to the same degree we want people to think we do, and I'll definitely include myself in that group.

We absolutely, though, cannot be biblical parents. We can't lead our children in the absolute best way for them to go if we are not regularly, dare I say daily, pouring over the scriptures, not just to read it, but to know it and understand it and believe it intimately.

By the way, parents who do that generally aren't the ones coming to me for counseling. It's not because they or their kids are perfect. Far from it. They just know what the scriptures have to say about the current trial or situation in their homes.

And by the grace of God, they're implementing the exact same truth to which I would point them if they were counselees. Now, I know that not every believer knows and understands and believes the same things about God.

We all have different life experiences. But we're all called to learn and grow wherever it was we were in the past, whatever we learned in the past. God wants us to continue growing in our sanctification.

2 Timothy 2 .5 says,. On our last episode, we referenced 2 Timothy 3 .14 -17. In 1 Timothy 4 .13, we read,. 2 Peter 3 .18 commands us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Well, how do we do that? We read and study and meditate on the Bible, the only source of absolute truth from God. Colossians 3 .16 says,. Colossians 1 .9 -10 tells us Paul's deepest desire for his people.

1 Peter 2 .2 is the famous passage that exhorts us to,. And why do we do this? Well, first of all, God deserves it. He created us to do it, commands us to do it, and capacitates us to do it. He wants to fellowship with us.

Practically Applying God's Word to Daily Life

Secondly, our families will benefit from it spiritually. If you're wondering how this benefits our families, that's our second and final point for today. Number two, most parents are not passionately and aggressively and practically applying what they've learned about God to their daily life choices.

God's Word is not just a book to be known and memorized. Yes, those are important, but you can know absolutely everything about the Bible and still have it not affect your life. The people who have the biggest impact on the world are not the people who know the most, but it's the people who know the most and live accordingly.

For example, what if Elon Musk's knowledge was all book knowledge and theory? What if he didn't make it a reality? How would the world be different today? Too many professing Christian parents know what the Bible says about obedience and eating and modesty and entertainment and relationships and homework, but that knowledge has absolutely no practical effect on how they or their kids live their lives.

They then go to a biblical counselor seeking for help, and the counselor reminds them of what God commands. And so often, the parents think things like, I know all of that already, and it hasn't helped.

But it's not about knowing. It's about doing. The Bible says we must be doers of the Word, not hearers only. When we do that, Jesus says we're deceiving ourselves. We're deceived and delusional if we believe that our families will be better off and we'll know how to lead our kids simply because we know things about God.

No, my friends, we must passionately and aggressively and practically apply what we know about God to our every life choice, and we must teach our kids to do the same. And here is, as they say, where the rubber meets the road.

Here's where we find the divide in our professing Christian homes. Some people are taking this seriously and are working fantastically to better know, love, and obey God and teach their kids to do the same.

Speaking the Truth in Love Builds Up Families

And the rest aren't. Oh, they have their excuses, but that's all they are. The reality is that they don't actually believe they need to live differently. Now, as we kind of hit reset on this ministry and rededicate to consistently preaching the truth of God's Word and applying it to the family, we must consider our theme verse, Ephesians 4 15.

But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, that is Christ. And then verse 16 gives us the glorious consequence of this kind of living, from whom, referring to Christ, the whole body being joined and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the properly measured working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Don't you want your family to be built up into Christ? Don't you want your family to be unified and strong and successful? Then here's the goal. Here's the mission. Pursue living and active obedience motivated by love and trust of God.

Now, it sounds simple, but it takes a lot of passionate, intentional, aggressive, and practical work. We must be diligent to present ourselves approved to God as workmen who don't need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

So, I welcome you. Please join us on this journey. I haven't made it, but we can travel together and support each other. Share this episode with other people who want to have biblical families. Check out the linked resources in the description of this episode and partner with us in prayer and even potentially finances so that more and more families can be biblical families, all to the glory of God.

And I'll see you next Tuesday. Truth Love Parent is part of the Evermind Ministries family and is dedicated to helping you worship God through your parenting. So, join us next time as we study God's word to learn how to parent our children for life and godliness.

And remember that TLP is a listener-supported ministry. You can visit truthloveparent .com forward slash donate to learn more.