Every year should be a year of consecration. So as we enter 2025, we should set our yearly goals apart to God for His glory. This requires looking to Him for wisdom and ordering our way rightly, as the Psalmist cries: “Direct my steps by Your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me” (Ps. 119:133).

In this podcast, Scott Brown and Jason Dohm, joined by special guest Carlton McLeod, discuss the need to sanctify ourselves as we make New Year’s Resolutions, desiring to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18). This starts by humbly acknowledging God has given us another year to experience His goodness and to rejoice in His sovereign hand. Once we have this in proper view, we should dedicate ourselves to His service by pursuing goals that honor Christ.

Leading one’s family in God’s ways requires focus and resolve. With the world arrayed against us, we must proclaim with Joshua, “as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Josh. 24:15). As parents, we must not only love God with all our heart, soul, and strength, and keep His commands (Deut. 6:4-5), but we must “teach them diligently to [our] children, and shall talk of them when [we] sit in [our] house, when [we] walk by the way, when [we] lie down, and when [we rise up” (Deut. 6:6-7).

In this podcast, Scott Brown and Jason Dohm, joined by special guest Carlton McLeod, discuss five ways to double down on your family: (1) Identify a consistent spot in your schedule for family worship; (2) Pick a strategy for reading the Bible; (3) Squeeze more life out of your local church; (4) Have a discipleship goal for each of your children; and (5) Take one high-impact trip as a family. They then add key reasons to do so, including the fact that the Bible has put family discipleship squarely in your laps, and your role as parents is one of the greatest privileges of a lifetime.

Delayed obedience. Partial obedience. Rolling of the eyes. “Selective” listening. A dishonorable tone. Such gestures are tell-tale signs of a child who doesn’t honor their parents from the heart. And whenever parents see such signs, they have a duty to promptly get on top of these problems and secure first-time obedience from their children—for it will not go well with them if they fail to honor their father and mother (Exod. 20:12).

In this podcast, Scott Brown and Jason Dohm discuss the need for parents to insist on first-time obedience with their children. Slow obedience is disobedience, they explain, for it reflects a heart of dishonor. Proverbs gives this helpful corrective, “The rod and rebuke give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother” (Prov. 29:15). The message is clear: Passivity in child training will lead to disaster. Proper training of our children, on the other hand, requires verbal instruction, with physical discipline to back it up.