Well, today we look at parenting, particularly parenting through the teen years.

Parenting teens is full of pressures and challenges.

And one source of those pressures are the demands and the questions put on mom and dad

for which there are no easy answers.

We're trying to help our teens think for themselves with discernment in a very complex world.

And it is one of the pressures that Pastor John has identified as a trigger in men of

what we call a midlife crisis, a crisis that often hits a dad in his early 40s when

he has teens at home.

We saw that connection in APJ 1173.

Dads as leaders bear a particular calling to their homes of self-sacrificing leadership,

all to avoid giving the devil a foothold in our homes.

Ephesians 426 and 27 raises the stakes that high when it commands us, quote, be angry and

do not sin.

Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil.

And quote, high stakes.

In a 2007 sermon on this text, Pastor John spoke directly to dads of teens.

He began with a word on modesty, but then transitioned to talk about a dad's hardest role in parenting

and being a dad.

There are spiritual dangers, brothers.

Coming at our families from every side today, innumerable and subtle.

We need valiant warriors as never before, but not with spears and shield, but with biblical

discernment and courage.

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