Weekend Service for June 7Scripture Readings: Genesis 2:24 / Luke 15:20-24 / Exodus 18:17-23Parenting names the long road from diapers to diapers and insists the road starts with the parent. The calling looks inward first, asking whether the parent is becoming the kind of person who can lead children toward healthy adulthood. The years shift. Infants need protection. Adolescents need guidance. Young adults need an influencer, not a controller. The approach that worked at 8 does not work at 18, 20, or 25. The relationship must evolve as needs change, even when emotions flip from “I’m right here” to a meltdown in a minute.Genesis 2 speaks into that shift. God builds a family that nurtures and trains, but he also sets a trajectory. A man leaves father and mother and is joined to his wife. The design is not permanent dependence but maturity and a new union. The goal becomes adult children who can stand, decide, and still remain in living relationship with those who raised them.Failure sits inside that design as a teacher. Luke 15 puts a father on the porch and a son in a pigsty. The father lets the young man choose his path and lose his money. Then love runs. No ridicule. No I told you so. Only robe, ring, sandals, and a party. That welcome echoes the heart of God in Christ, the one who forgives Peter, is betrayed by Judas, and answers the thief with mercy. Parents prepare children not by bubble wrap but by walking them through the next right step after a fall.Exodus sets another pattern as Moses receives counsel from Jethro. Influence shows up without control. Advice comes as a gift, not a demand. Adult children get to choose, and wisdom respects their agency while staying close enough to be heard.The relationship must hold when convictions differ. Children may look different, vote different, parent different, even struggle spiritually. Love keeps the door open and the fattened calf ready. Disagreement need not mean disconnection. The parent’s posture says, the voice remains, the corner is occupied, and the table is set.Trust hands all this to God. Children imitate what they see before they understand what it means. So the parent aims to look like Christ, longing not for permanent control but for lifelong connection. The prayer becomes to raise sons and daughters who carry grace and make sound decisions as they stand side by side with those who first carried them.[00:00] Welcome[00:23] From Diapers To Diapers[00:48] Parenting Begins With Self-Examination[03:42] When Approaches Must Change[04:52] The Shift To Influencer[05:16] God’s Family Design[07:40] Failure As A Teacher[09:03] The Prodigal Son Begins[12:27] The Father Runs And Embraces[14:34] Grace, Not Ridicule, At Home[15:35] Choosing A Christlike Response[19:22] Jethro’s Advice Without Control[21:16] Disagreeing Without Disconnecting[23:54] Entrusting Children To God[25:35] Lifelong Connection, Not Control