The Heidi St. John Podcast

My friend Ann Dunagan from MissionMindedFamilies.org is joining me today and next week to encourage you! We’re talking about some practical things we can do to point our arrows in the right direction. And here’s a hint: it’s not a formula! Scriptures Psalm 144:12 Ephesians 3:16 Ann Dunagan is a missions leader with Harvest Ministry, director of Daring Daughters, mobilizer with Mission-Minded Families, and global-mom with 7 kids (and a growing number of married-in-spouses and grandchildren). Since 1987, the Dunagan family have been sharing the love of Jesus in over 100 nations, caring for 1000+ orphan children in Africa and Asia, and overseeing 450+ remote village churches. Ann’s books include: The Mission-Minded Child (for parents) The Mission-Minded Family (for parents), Teaching With God’s Heart for the World, Volumes I and II (for homeschooling families) The Scarlet Cord: Nothing but the Blood of Jesus (co-authored with her husband Jon Dunagan), The Whole World Needs Jesus (for children), and coming soon in 2018 . . . The Fishless Fisherman (for children) 3 resources for MOMSTRONG moms — all FREE! * 3-D Kids Course with “Missionary Mark” —  (online training course for kids ages 6-12 — training DARING DOING DISCIPLES) * ROCK SOLID discipleship course (online training, with PDFs and videos — especially for discipling teenagers or family discipleship) * P.A.S.S.I.O.N. & CLARITY Course (online course for helping women to find clarity for God’s Great Commission — includes assessments to clarify Personality, Abilities, Spiritual-gifts, Story, Interests, Opportunities, and Needs of the world you care about).

My friend Ann Dunagan is joining me today and next week to encourage you! We’re talking about how easy it is to desire accolades and credit from the world as we share Jesus with the world around us, but truly, it’s not about us. It’s all about Jesus. Let’s get on the battlefield! Ann Dunagan is a missions leader with Harvest Ministry, director of Daring Daughters, mobilizer with Mission-Minded Families, and global-mom with 7 kids (and a growing number of married-in-spouses and grandchildren). Since 1987, the Dunagan family have been sharing the love of Jesus in over 100 nations, caring for 1000+ orphan children in Africa and Asia, and overseeing 450+ remote village churches. Ann’s books include: The Mission-Minded Child (for parents) The Mission-Minded Family (for parents), Teaching With God’s Heart for the World, Volumes I and II (for homeschooling families) The Scarlet Cord: Nothing but the Blood of Jesus (co-authored with her husband Jon Dunagan), The Whole World Needs Jesus (for children), and coming soon in 2018 . . . The Fishless Fisherman (for children) 3 resources for MOMSTRONG moms — all FREE! * 3-D Kids Course with “Missionary Mark” —  (online training course for kids ages 6-12 — training DARING DOING DISCIPLES) * ROCK SOLID discipleship course (online training, with PDFs and videos — especially for discipling teenagers or family discipleship) * P.A.S.S.I.O.N. & CLARITY Course (online course for helping women to find clarity for God’s Great Commission — includes assessments to clarify Personality, Abilities, Spiritual-gifts, Story, Interests, Opportunities, and Needs of the world you care about).

There is a cause and effect happening in the culture today between the removal of God from almost every aspect of our national discourse and the evil that is filling the vacuum where God once was. This will continue to play out until we turn our hearts back to Him. Scripture John 8:1-11

Christians are getting less and less discerning and in turn, giving false teachers greater audiences to share their twisted versions of the Gospel.  It matters, men and women, who we are listening to.  Today we’re looking at three specific traits of false teachers, because learning how to recognize them is the first wise move we make to stand firm against them! Scriptures 1 Peter 1:6, 2:3 Micah 6:8 More Like this from The Busy Mom The Truth About False Teachers – God’s Word warns us against false teachers. If there was ever a time to be on the lookout for them, the time is now. We are living in a generation of biblically illiterate, immature Christians—people who, while they claim the name of Jesus, and who want His mercy, forgiveness and salvation, do not wish to carry His cross. I’ve written a companion blog post about this issue, because it’s so important I don’t want anyone to miss it. Learning to Discern Counterfeit Christianity – The only way to succeed in this life at the end of the day is to walk humbly with God and ask Him for truth and wisdom. You are a redeemed child of God and can discern counterfeit Christianity when you see it. Dig in and ask God for wisdom!

When you are truly *for* something, everyone will know what you are against. Jesus stood for us, and made it clear that there is a force of evil in the world today. He stood against that evil IN love and FOR love. We can learn to walk and live in the tension between truth and love as we seek His wisdom and apply it in our lives today. More like this from The Busy Mom Dare to Be a Daniel: Talking to Your Kids About Standing for The Lord – This is startlingly new territory for parents: explaining why a man is being celebrated as a woman on the cover of a magazine is not something we’re used to talking about. Here’s the thing: If we don’t set a place for the truth of Scripture at the table of our children’s hearts, the world will set out a feast all it’s own. What Are We Like When No One Else is Watching? -Are we growing in our walk with God? Today, we’re talking about a “big” word … sanctification. It’s a big word that means a simple thing: grow.  Grow. As Christians, we’re called to live set apart lives—no matter who’s watching. Resources Firmly Planted Family Bible Study We all agree that teaching our children the life-changing truths of the Bible is one of our most important jobs as parents. But where do we begin? How do we consistently explore God’s Word in a way that helps our children understand and apply the core truths of biblical teaching in their own lives? The Firmly Planted Family Series is divided into ten-week studies and is your key to making sense of the Bible—even if you’re learning right along with your children. Each lesson provides a core idea, a simple narrative, memory verses and discussion questions for children of all ages. And the companion student workbook is filled with age-appropriate, full-color, reproducible activities for children of any age! Age of Opportunity by Paul Tripp Are you hoping to merely survive your teenagers? With compassion, wit, and wisdom, Tripp uncovers the heart issues affecting families during the often-chaotic adolescent years. Fool’s Gold?: Discerning Truth in an Age of Error edited by Dr. John MacArthur In an age of open-mindedness, many believers accept too much with too little discernment, resulting in great confusion and compromise. But God’s Word makes it clear that not everything that glitters is gold. False teaching is at every turn, and the temptation to embrace it is great. As God’s people we are called to sift through the overwhelming number of traditions and trends and use the truth of Scripture to determine which are the true treasures-and which are “fool’s gold.” General editor John MacArthur and the contributors of this uncompromising book define the principles of biblical discernment and use them to address several contemporary Christian issues. They provide straightforward, biblical critiques of some popular but unfortunate Christian trends, such as watered-down preaching and doctrinally questionable best-selling books. Dr. MacArthur ends with a practical plan for cultivating discernment in the Christian life. It is the duty of every Christian-not just pastors and elders-to follow the biblical command to cling to what is go...

It would appear that in Hawaii the future of homeschooling is in jeopardy, which will tempt many of us to wring our hands in fear as we wonder what precedent will be set for our own states. But our other topic for today speaks to this one, and that is that we serve a God who can do anything. So before we surrender in fear, let’s do what we can and trust the Lord to work – just like He did when He fed a crowd of 5000 with a few loaves and fish all those years ago. He is still our all powerful God! John 6:1 Philippians 4:19

Shepherding teens is an opportunity to see the blessing of the Lord’s fruit in their lives. Your teens will let you down – and you’ll let them down, too! But it is worth it is actively stay in the fight as you prepare to launch them into the world. Ultimately, they belong to the Lord, and at the end of our parenting journey, we want to be able to say that we have shepherded them well. Scriptures Ephesians 6:4 Colossians 3:21 Dr. James Dobson on Amazon -Founder and chairman emeritus of Focus on the Family, a nonprofit organization that produced his internationally syndicated radio programs, heard by more than 200 million people every day. A licensed psychologist and marriage, family, and child counselor, he earned a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in the field of child development. The author of more than 30 books, including his most recent bestseller, Bringing Up Boys, he has been heavily involved in governmental activities related to the family. Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens -Paul Tripp uncovers the heart issues that affect parents and their teenage children during the often-chaotic adolescent years. With wit, wisdom, humility, and compassion, he shows parents how to seize the countless opportunities to deepen communication and learn and grow with their teens. Yes, Your Teen is Crazy: Loving Your Teen Without Losing Your Mind by Michael J Bradley – Reminding parents that you can’t relate to a crazy teen the same way you relate to a rational adult, Bradley tells readers how to navigate the adolescent minefield. Sticking With Your Child by Joe White -Is there a chasm growing between you and your teen? Whether your adolescent is a major prodigal or a minor problem, don’t give up! Your relationship is everything, and it’s never too late to start mending it. In Sticking with Your Teen, you’ll take an honest look at the way you parent. You’ll discover creative, schedule-friendly ways to get closer to your son or daughter. You’ll see why teens turn distant and defiant and receive the encouragement and hope every parent needs to draw closer to his or her adolescent. More Like this from The Busy Mom Loving Your Teen Without Losing Your Mind – Finding the balance between parenting and letting go during the teen year is hard and growing tension makes it even harder.  Join Heidi and Durenda as they share their experiences on the podcast. Got Teens? P is for Perseverance – If you would have told me twenty years ago that one of my bubbly, bright-eyed, adorable little babies would ever be disrespectful or rude to me I would have said, “not a chance.” After all, my stellar parenting skills and unconditional love would prevent it. Right? In Pursuit of Your Teen – As parents, we need to be keeping our finger on the pulse on our children’s relationships with other people and their relationship with the Lord. We can’t do that if we’re not talking to them.

The feminists in our world today are fighting for freedom to reject God as the ultimate authority in our life. I am 100% pro-woman and believe 100% that men and women are equal, but we are different, and that is GOOD. God has a beautiful design for the women He created, and we rob ourselves of the joy He offers if we reject that design for our lives. I’m encouraging you to walk in the way the Lord has laid out for His people, one that fully recognizes the beauty in His creation, uniquely and individually gifted male and female. Why Feminism and Christianity Can’t Mix 10 Things Christians Get Wrong About Feminism

Jesus is the Son of God, but why do we struggle with belief? It’s so important for us to remember that we are to find our answers in the Word of God – we go no other place. We must begin to know God’s Word for ourselves, so that we can defend the truth contained in it and recognize the false teaching that is rampant in our culture today. We’re going back to the basics, and calling out a false teaching being taught by the Episcopalian church as we speak. We want to pass the truth of God’s Word on to the next generation, and to understand how to do that, we need to know who Jesus is. Scripture: John 5:16-47 Key verse: John 5:24 Episcopal Church votes no masculine pronouns for God U.S. Episcopal diocese votes to stop using masculine pronouns for God Episcopal Diocese Votes to Avoid Using ‘Gendered Pronouns’ for God in Book of Common Prayer  

Scriptures Psalm 90:12 Ephesians 5:15-18 Psalm 139:4 More Like This from The Busy Mom Busy Seasons and Weary Souls – God doesn’t clearly tell us in his Word what is too much or too little when it comes to busyness. That’s something we each have to walk out with him. What He does tell us though, is that He wants us to be about HIS business…His agenda. In other words, to be led by the Holy Spirit. Being too busy is only okay if it’s what He wants us to do. Balance for Busy Moms – So what does this have to do with balance?  First, we need to work to please God, not others.  Second, and it may not seem obvious at first, but if you read from verse 17  back down to that parallel verse, verse 23, you will see something that stood out to me:  I noticed that all of the verses in between 17 and 23 talk about the importance of relationships. Those verses are all about healthy family relationships: wives and husbands are supposed to be in loving relationships with each other; we read that fathers are not to exasperate their children.  God’s Word is telling us that good works situations and healthy family situations go hand in hand.  This takes prioritizing and balancing.  Sometimes, good things rob us of the best things.