[0:00] Brother Gordon, come and preach this place for you. Well, good morning. Wow, that was good. That was real good. You know, make you feel welcome.
[0:12] ! I sit by myself. No response. Well, this is going to go real well. You know, this is my first time preaching in progressive lenses.
[0:24] So, just in case I look like I may get lost and when I look up and you disappear for a minute, how many of you wear progressive lenses? How many of you almost fell off a set of bleachers at one of your kids' basketball games the first time you wore them?
[0:39] That would be me. You know, they mentioned that this was kind of a last-minute deal. This is actually not the shortest time frame that I've ever had to get ready to preach a sermon.
[0:53] I was visiting my parents back in the small town of Mississippi, Water Valley, where I grew up. And I was laying in bed. It was a Sunday morning, probably about 7.30.
[1:06] I get a phone call, a buddy of mine that I grew up with. He said, hey, you still here? I said, what do you mean? You still in town? I said, yeah. He said, well, Silverina, this small country church that I preached at a few times before, their pastor's got the flu, and he can't preach today.
[1:23] He said, hey, are you still here? I said, man, all I got is boots and jeans and an old flannel button-down. He said, that's great. We'll see you at 11. Hung up. Showed up, preached, got paid, watermelons, eggs, and I think a cantaloupe is what it was.
[1:42] So it's really interesting how God orchestrates some of this. You know, I don't even, I don't know your pastor. I wouldn't know him if he walked in the back door. But a former student of mine, when I was a youth pastor in Plainview, Texas, called me on Wednesday about noon and said, hey, man, how's it going?
[2:02] I was like, what do you want? That's how these conversations go. Hey, how's Shelly? How are the kids doing? I'm like, dude, just cut to the chase. What do you need?
[2:13] You always want something. I got a friend who's at this church in Henrietta and he's needing somebody to fill in last minute. He was like, man, do you know anybody? He's like, well, actually my old youth pastor lives in Wichita Falls.
[2:25] So that's how you got stuck with me today. How many of you would agree that it appears as though we have a manhood problem in our culture?
[2:39] How many of you would say that, you know, looking at what's going on in our culture and in our world that we have a manhood problem? I believe we do.
[2:50] And the reason why it's so important for us to look at this is because it is causing a leadership problem in our homes that results in God's plan of family discipleship taking a back seat to what's going on.
[3:07] So many other things are dominating our focus in our world because we have a manhood problem that's causing a leadership problem in the home. And what God says is important for us as men and in our marriages and with our families is taking a back seat.
[3:25] You see, I believe men are greatly misled and confused about what it means to be a real man, a godly man, a kingdom man. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 16, 13, Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
[3:44] You know, when you do some diving in to the Scriptures, you'll see that what Paul says here, our current situation within our churches today is not that much different from that of current.
[3:58] which leads me to ask, where are the real men? Where are the godly men? Where are the kingdom men? I love the challenge by Dr. Tony Evans.
[4:12] I don't know if you've ever read any of his stuff or not, and I surely can't relay this as well as he would, but this is something that's really stuck with me through his teaching over the years. He says, if you are a messed up man, you're going to contribute to a messed up family.
[4:26] If you're a messed up family, you're going to contribute to a messed up church. If you're a messed up church, you're going to contribute to a messed up community. And if you're a messed up community, you're going to contribute to a messed up state.
[4:39] If you're a messed up state, you're going to contribute to a messed up country. And if you're a messed up country, you're going to contribute to a messed up world. Therefore, the only way to have a better world made up of better countries composed of better states, filled with better communities, influenced by better churches, inhabited by better families is by becoming a better man.
[5:02] You see, it starts with you. It starts with me. It starts with all of us. It begins with us becoming a better man by aligning ourselves under the comprehensive rule of God of every area of our life and focusing on God's kingdom agenda.
[5:22] Not our own, but on what God says is important. And you do it by not just choosing to be a man, but a kingdom man.
[5:32] That's very, very important. Do you know what the difference is between being just a good man versus a godly man? Have you ever thought about that?
[5:43] Have you ever wrestled with it? Ladies, have you ever thought about what it means to be a godly man? I mean, you're probably sitting there going, I bet you need to know what that looks like. The difference, Paul says, is that godly men take responsibility for their actions.
[6:01] They move past just being a provider, a protector, showing up at the end of the day to how can I take responsibility for my actions?
[6:14] The words that I say, the way that I spend my time, the way that I focus and engage in different relationships, it's by taking responsibility and not making excuses for simple behavior.
[6:28] Why were you short with your wife? Well, you know, I've got a lot going on at work. Well, why were you impatient with your kids? Well, you know, it's just a lot of stress and I'm tired and there's so many things going on.
[6:38] Why didn't you do this or why didn't you do that? And we make excuse after excuse after excuse. But a godly man begins to take responsibility for his actions.
[6:50] And we don't justify our sinful choices. And men, I want to say something to you because a lot of times we get beat up in church, don't we? Don't we get beat up in church? Father's Day.
[7:00] Boy, don't we love Father's Day? Let's go to church and get beat up. Get elbowed by our wife. See, the pastor's telling you you need to train her. Men, you're not a failure if you fail.
[7:14] You are going to fail. That's how we learn. Okay? You fail if you quit. You fail if you quit focusing on who God wants you to be.
[7:25] I mean, if we wanted to get real technical and real spiritual here, you know, when we're saved, that's justification. While we're here on earth figuring this whole thing out, that's sanctification.
[7:37] We're working out our salvation with fear and trembling. When we step into the presence of God, that's glorification. Okay? There's a part in the middle. You know that little dash on those headstones?
[7:48] You know what that is? That dash? That's your life. That's how you're working this thing out. And it's so very important. Godly man doesn't stop seeking to honor the Lord and align himself under God's authority.
[8:06] I've got to ask you, though. This is going to be a lot of fun. Are you constantly making excuses for how you treat your wife and kids?
[8:19] Are you characterized by someone who is arrogant, rude, quick-tempered, or are you patient, kind, loving?
[8:33] Are you present with the right people at the right time? Or are you distracted and disengaged? It was one of my favorite things my dad would say growing up.
[8:47] I've got a lot going on. I just ain't had time. It's been real intense. Okay. So you get to speak to us in a way that's not very kind.
[9:02] It's not very gracious. Just because you have a lot going on. People find it funny that I share this story about my dad. My dad's not a horrible guy.
[9:12] I'm not throwing him under the bus. It's just some of the things the way I grew up. Because my dad does have a lot going on. But when I call him at his office and his secretary answers, I ask her a couple of questions.
[9:25] Is he in a good mood or a bad mood? You know? Is he busy? She's laughing. She's like, why do you ask me this? Because I'm like, at my age, if he's busy, he ain't going to listen to what I'm saying.
[9:42] And number two, if he's in a bad mood, it's probably going to put me in a bad mood. And then we're going to have to resolve everything later. So I might as well just call back at a different time. Do you bring peace into your home?
[9:56] Into your marriage? The relationships you have with your kids? Man, are you causing division? Or are you bringing peace? You know, men, we are...
[10:08] Man, we set that temperature on the thermometer, right? We don't want nobody else to touch it. My kids are afraid to touch the thermostat at my house. My wife was here.
[10:18] She'd be like, I'm not. If you ever wondered what a southern bell looked like, if my wife was here, I would have to translate for most of y'all because she can't talk to automated systems.
[10:35] No does not have like five or six syllables. No, it's really bad. But all these things that I presented to you, speaking of my wife, because a lot of times men, hey, you a good husband?
[10:54] Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I think I'm a good husband. You a good dad? Oh, yeah. I'm a good dad. What would Shelly say? My wife. What would your wife say?
[11:06] Me and you want to know what type of husband you are? Just ask your wife. She'll tell you. She probably has. Maybe you weren't listening. You went to your nothing box. That's a whole other sermon for a different day.
[11:19] You're a good dad. What would your kids say? Man, if I don't sit down and talk with Hannah and Caleb about the type of dad I am, I'm just a prideful, arrogant jerk because I think I'm doing a good job.
[11:34] But my best intentions may not be what they need. Most important, what would God say? How would God say that you're doing as a husband, as a father?
[11:49] Some lovely questions, aren't they? If you can't say amen, say ouch. I know, right? Hey, the good thing is I'm going to step on your toes, but I'm going to step on mine as well.
[12:01] Right? I usually try to tell people when they say, oh man, that really got a hold of me. Like good, because God beat me up before I got here. And so I just wanted to include you in the process because it's more fun to suffer, I mean learn together as we go forward.
[12:17] You know, in our conversations, especially in our homes, if they are not being run through Galatians chapter 5, man, if we're not passing those conversations through that filter of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, then we are not aligned.
[12:37] So repent. How many times do we see that in the scriptures? Repent. Change your mind. Change your default. Realign things to say, you know what?
[12:49] I'm going to give my wife and I'm going to give my kids, our family, I'm going to set the temperature on the thermostat. You know what it's going to be? It's going to be Galatians 5. And if I have a conversation with my kids, I'm going to give them the freedom to come to me in a respectful way and say, hey dad, you know the other day when we talked, it didn't appear you were very self-controlled.
[13:11] What? You let your kids do that? Absolutely. Absolutely. Hey dear, you know the other day when you were talking about the rusty old file cabinets in the back of my vehicle that were making noises, you were going down the road.
[13:26] Oh, I'm sorry. That was this morning. You weren't very kind when you, babe, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be short with you and make a snarky comment. We give ourselves permission to have those conversations because folks, let me tell you and I just want to be honest with you and transparent today to say to you, I messed this up for a long time.
[13:52] I got it wrong for so long and thankfully the Holy Spirit woke me up and brought me to a place of changing my default, repenting, changing my mind and really setting a standard in my home that brings about peace, not conflict and division.
[14:08] One guy who got it right was J.C. Ryle. I don't know if you ever read some of his stuff but it's really, really good. In 1816, J.C. Ryle was born in England into an immensely wealthy and socially elite family.
[14:22] His grandfather earned a fortune and then he left it to Ryle's father. John Charles, J.C., was the oldest son and grew up lacking no comfort. The oldest son of a wealthy English family was expected to seek a career in Parliament and that was Ryle's ambition.
[14:39] At 21, he suffered a long, drawn-out lung infection and during his confinement, he began to read the Bible, something that, according to his own admission, he had not done for 14 years.
[14:51] And one Sunday, during his recovery, he entered an Oxford church just as Ephesians 2, verse 8, was being read. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith.
[15:03] And this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. He came under great conviction at this moment. He was converted and from that moment to the last recorded syllable of this life, notes his biographer, no doubt ever lingered in John's mind that the Word of God was living, active, and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword that cuts deep into the marrow.
[15:30] From his conversion in 1837 to his burial in 1900, J.C. Ryle was entirely one-dimensional. He was a one-book man. He was steeped in Scripture.
[15:41] He bled the Bible. And as only Ryle could say, and I hope you'll latch on to this, it is still the first book which fits the child's mind when he begins to learn religion and the last to which the old man clings as he leaves this world.
[16:00] This is why his works have lasted. This is why it stands the test of time. The Bible as well, it'll last because it bears the stamp of eternity.
[16:11] And today, more than a hundred years after his passing, Ryle's works stand at the crossroads between the historic faith and modern evangelicalism. That's a tough word to say in front of people.
[16:24] You know that? But like signposts, they direct us to the old past and the signposts are meant to be read. I want to share with you some great advice from him.
[16:40] I set that up for you just so you could see how timeless what the, I've read stuff of his and he wrote it so long ago and I'm like, golly, he hit the nail on the head.
[16:52] Ah, he must have just, that must have just been pinned. Nope. So far long ago. This is what he says to parents. You cannot make your children love the Bible, I admit.
[17:06] None but the Holy Spirit can give us a heart to delight in the Word. But you can make your children acquainted with the Bible and be sure they cannot be acquainted with that blessed book too soon or too well.
[17:20] Like Ryle, when we look closely in the Scriptures, we cannot help but see as parents, we are called to be the primary disciples of our children. Now I want to carry you through a few passages in Deuteronomy.
[17:35] You're not going to be able to keep up with me. I cheated. I put little tabs in my Bible so I'm going to flip pretty fast. My encouragement to you is to write these down and to go back through them later and just listen as we move through some texts in the Old Testament starting in Deuteronomy chapter 4 verses 9 through 10.
[17:57] It says, Only take care and keep your soul diligently lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life.
[18:08] Make them known to your children and your children's children. How on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb the Lord said to me, Gather the people to me that I may let them hear my words so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth and that they may teach their children so.
[18:32] Flip over to chapter 6 verses 4 through 9 if you can do it quick. Anybody Bible drills grow up doing Bible drills? Yeah? Back there see that? Yeah? I didn't make it past some of the earlier rounds but hey, I did learn a lot from what I did go through.
[18:48] Chapter 6 verses 4 through 9 Hear O Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your might and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart you shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates chapter 11 verses 18 through 19 you shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes you shall teach them to your children talking of them when you are sitting in your house and when you are walking by the way and when you lie down and when you rise chapter 4 verse 9 this solemn admonition to be careful it's an admonition that occurs numerous times in Deuteronomy if you go back and read through it and to watch implies that the
[19:58] Israelites constantly face the danger of falling back into sin which would have brought them to the brink of annihilation as a nation now what was that sin that sin was idolatry it was putting anything before their relationship with the almighty God and the nation could become idolatrous in two related ways one the depravity of the human mind is so great that the great deeds of God of his people that they forget and they might slip and lose focus in their hearts if they did not constantly remind themselves of God's mighty works why do you think we come to church on a regular basis why do you think we gather together it's for us to be reminded we don't come in here because God needs us to tell him how great he is okay he already knows but the posture of our heart man it needs to be realigned and shifted we need to tell him how great he is we need to be reminded of who he is we need to look back at the things he's done we need to be refocused so to speak on our walk with him it's so important to realign ourselves because it's so easy for us to drift away or the second way through laziness or apathy parents might fail to teach them to their children and thus their children would become idolaters it's a big issue
[21:27] Deuteronomy lays great stress not on the priest or other religious leaders but on the parents as the ones responsible for their children's spiritual education the parents see God trusts us as parents with his great revelation such as giving the law at Sinai to faithful stewards who must never forget them and must pass them on to their children but like Joshua from the Old Testament we got to make a choice I don't know if you've ever thought about this or not but we're free to choose we're not free not to choose we're not free to choose the consequences or change the outcome of our choice but we must make a choice you had to make a choice I'm going to get up today I'm going to stay in bed go to church or am I not we have choices that we make all the time and Joshua tells us in chapter 24 verse 15 indicates that he wanted Israel to be honest with themselves and declare their allegiance though he said choose he did not intend to encourage idolatry but was confident that the very thought of making a commitment to an idol would be so disgusting to them that they would take a stand against all such worship and Joshua left absolutely no doubt as to the choice that he was going to make for him and for his household as for me we're going to serve the Lord what choices are you making for your household where is your allegiance are we as parents doing enough maybe maybe not
[23:13] I don't know how about we ask a better question according to God's clear directives to parents to be the primary disciples of their children am I being efficient or effective what's the difference I thought those were the same thing no if you're efficient you are doing things right if you're effective you're doing the right things now if I handed you a pair of scissors and I asked you to go out and cut the grass and you went blade by blade you'd be efficient if I brought you a zero turn you'd be effective right see the difference it's not just doing things right it's are we doing the right things when it comes to the leadership in our homes when I meet with young couples for premarital pastoral care we're going out of town this week for me to do my niece's wedding in Georgia it's always great
[24:17] I don't know why how stupid do your family members have to be to get you to do their wedding when they know you're going to ask a bunch of personal probing questions I mean really hey you know what you know who I am you know I'm going to ask and you still want me to do your wedding yes please all right well all right then buckle up I asked one of the questions I asked the young man can you be the spiritual leader of your household oh yeah yeah I can do that how are you going to do that y'all know the phrase calf looking at a new gate deer caught in headlights the the we got any teenage boys in here I got a 17 year old y'all know y'all stupid and I say that because I was I was there man I mean you know I can't get him to speak up when
[25:18] I talk to him the grunting the moaning I mean it's just and the decisions that he makes some of the time good lord but yeah oh yeah I can do that well how are you planning on doing it I hadn't thought about that do you know if you ever join a small group that I'm leading I'm just going to give you a tip there's two answers that you can answer most every question that I ask you Jesus and not as much as I should here let's practice do you read your bible on a regular basis okay who should be at the very center of your life see there you go it's just so simple if you know those two things but you see we cannot expect to raise godly children who love the Lord if we are not modeling that for them right you know my son plays baseball I'm not going to tell you where because y'all probably egged my car not going to tell you where but you know when we go to play baseball or we go to deer hunt there's a lot of conversation that happens that we talk about things on an important spiritual level and we can't miss those moments and we can't expect to raise godly children if we don't seek to create those times where we can impact them and take advantage of them being in our presence and it just really hit me that you know
[27:03] I look back on the time in the car the time in the truck the time in the blind the powerful conversations I've had with my son taking my daughter out to eat going and doing some of her girly stuff good lord that I don't know anything about but just being present to have conversations those are some opportunities that we have you see because once the choice has been made to serve the Lord we must teach the coming generations the psalmist in psalm 78 says I must recount the past deeds so that our children do not forget each generation must remember that the Lord revealed the divine oracles to Israel he wanted them to put their trust in God to remember his deeds and to keep his commands okay that's great why do we need to hear this today what's the point because we need it as well wouldn't you say that our world is a little bit chaotic right now do you think that our world needs a little realignment can you realign the world can you realign your home how's the world going to change we realign ourselves we realign our families realign our churches we realign our communities you can't fix the world you can fix your home it's very important for us to understand that and understand the role that we have because
[28:42] Deuteronomy gives us the command Joshua stresses the choice we must make and the psalmist shows us the responsibility that we have well you know I don't have kids yet you might one day so start preparing now for what you hope to pass on well my kids are gone as long as they're breathing it's not too late maybe if they're not open to it you can begin preparing to disciple your grandkids I don't plan on having kids well there's some good principles for discipleship all Christians can take away from today's message and maybe you are plan to serve in an area where you can invest in someone else's kids I think we heard an appeal this morning from somebody right there's some opportunities here to invest in the younger generation did I get everyone because like I said I don't want us to suffer I mean learn alone here I want to make sure I'm getting everybody included Steve Wright author of the book of parent privilege challenged a group of student pastors at a conference
[29:46] I attended years ago with this I found this very interesting and I said you know what I'm going to do this with my students I want to see if you're making this stuff up so he said to ask a group of students like I said I took this back and I was on staff at First Baptist Plainview Texas at the time I was a youth pastor he said ask them how many of you read scripture with your parents on a regular basis his research said about 4-6% he was dead on how many of you pray with your parents on a regular basis again he said about 4-6% is what you're going to find once again I wrote them down I did the numbers I ran the math and everything I ran it all I took how many responded and did the percentages and everything and he was spot on on both of these and then he said now how many of you would like to read the scripture and pray with your parents on a regular basis if they asked you to his research said it would be 85 to 90% and for the leave the church around the time of graduation two thirds of kids and church going families are walking away from
[31:03] Christ why do you think that is give you a little insight from two pastors I highly respect one says listen 60% of children who grow up in evangelical churches do not return to those churches as an adult because they do not see a real genuine!
[31:19] commitment in the lives of their parents another one says no country in history has ever survived the destruction of the family unit why is it that there seems to be so many church going parents who turn out children who eventually forsake the church and turn their backs on Christianity and it's happening with alarming frequency one major reason that it gives no genuine passion and real love for the things of God seen in their parents man if that don't get a hold of you I don't know what will man we bring we tend to bring more energy and more focus to so many other things don't we we've made so many other things a priority all these extracurricular activities that we're involved in and I've been guilty at times myself I'm not trying to cause anybody to feel guilty but I am trying to get you to help evaluate do you need to realign yourself because we tend to put a whole lot of stuff before our relationship with the
[32:29] Lord you know what that's called according to the scriptures it's called idolatry what about those parents who think they're getting it right but are actually missing it as one pastor I served under said parents are the primary disciples of their children and must not delegate that responsibility to anyone God has given us our kids to bring them up to follow Jesus hey you know what man did you disciple your kids I sure did well how'd you do that well you know I took them I took them to Sunday school I dropped them off did you go to something no no no no no you know I don't need that stuff I went home I let somebody else teach them in Sunday school and then they went to children's church and I picked them up after they were done and you know we went to eat and you know did y'all talk about what they talked about no I didn't!
[33:19] really do that because I couldn't relate but you know then on Wednesday I got them there so because those kids need to be in church and I tell you what I dropped them off you don't know how hard it was to adjust my schedule so I could drop them off so that doesn't even sound good does it that's what happens sorry folks that's not God's plan for discipleship and one family who did just that we dropped them off every time the door was open we went to serve in another place all the while honestly believed we were doing the right thing and I wish someone had told us that the responsibility of discipling our children was ours not the church staff it's been said and I agree 100% most parents know deep down that they cannot hand the privilege of discipling their children to a pastor you see we have an incredible privilege plainly in front of us the apparent privilege to disciple our children the church and the home must come together it's not going to work and
[34:43] I tell you that not just because I read it in a book spent 25 plus years in pastoral ministry 15 of which was a youth pastor did my time folks don't ever ask me to go to summer camp I went for 20 years I'm done you want to go to camp nope you want to drive the bus find somebody else we need you sorry about that still working on that taking responsibility for my actions I'm a good man today not a godly man yet when it comes to student camp a lot of times what happens to us and our families and maybe you can relate is that we outsource a lot of areas we take them to the coach for their physical development we take them to a counselor for their mental development we take them to the youth pastor for their spiritual development and what we end up doing is disengaging from our kids lives and just managing the professionals
[35:46] I challenge you to find me book chapter and verse where God says I just want you to find some good professionals and I want you to manage them really well so your kids can turn out who I want them to be you ever found that me neither what I do find is him saying you invest in the lives of your kids what does the research tell us 70% of teens identify their parents as their most important influence in their lives right it's kind of like when somebody says hey man God's everywhere he will never leave you forsake you he knows what's going on man that's oh he's everywhere he sees everything he knows what's going on I'm my kid's hero I'm the most powerful influence oh man I better step it up you see contrary to what parents think kids say mom and dad have the biggest impact on the choices they make ages 13 to 24 were asked what makes you happy spending time with family was the top answer nearly half of teens mention at least one of their parents as a hero and the research concludes with this parents play an extremely important role in the developing religious attitudes and practices in their kids but here's the comments that I usually hear
[37:13] I can't do it yes you can yes you can repeat after me I can do this oh that's the reason why you can't right there I can do this no you can't I can do this now now you can now you're moving in the right direction God wants me to do this God wants me to do this I carry more influence if y'all don't start talking loud I'm gonna start throwing these ping pong balls I carry more influence than I give myself credit for now here's what I want you to do I want you to say that until you believe it and then I want you to say it because you believe it do you realize that there are times when I struggle to answer my kids questions about the
[38:16] Bible I have a masters of divinity with biblical languages okay I took two semesters of Hebrew four semesters of Greek biblical background systematic theology and a bunch of other things I can't say I don't know there are times they ask me questions that I don't have any answers to we all are gonna be in that situation I mean sometimes I have to say I don't know dad doesn't know everything I'll have to look it up but I'm grateful that we're having the conversations and we can seek these answers together as a family oh well you know the Bible is too confusing it's intimidating okay so you believe things in the Bible but don't fully understand them you ever had that problem welcome to the club dig study prepare beg God for guidance do we give up so easily in other areas no why aren't we giving up on the most important thing
[39:19] God has asked us to do as parents we get on the internet go ask questions ladies you know you be shopping all the time looking up stuff anyway for the best deals don't tell me you can't research something on the internet you lying here's what must be avoided refusing to get our children acquainted with the Bible just because it's hard or intimidating as parents it's our responsibility and it's a crucial one in his book on heaven D.L.
[39:51] Moody spoke about a father that he met in New York the father had a son who was periodically ill no one really thought his illness was serious until the child took a turn for the worse when the doctor came to the parents and informed the mother that the boy's disease was terminal he wouldn't live but for a few more days when the father came home from work that night he saw his wife weeping and asked her why there's been a great change in our boy since morning the mother said the doctor tells me that he is very ill and he may not live out the night when the father went in to see his son it was apparent that the boy knew what was going on he looked up at his dad and said I will be with Jesus tonight won't I the father answered yes son it's very likely that you will be with Jesus tonight as the father spoke tears streamed down his face and he tried to hide!
[40:44] them from his boy but the boy saw the tears! because when I get up to heaven I'm going to go straight to Jesus and I'm going to tell him that ever since I can remember you have tried to lead me to him glory hallelujah boy isn't that the end result we as fathers and parents as Christian people should want parents fathers specifically are you more concerned about your kids success in this life than you are about them coming to know Jesus and growing in a relationship with him we cannot help our children gain the whole world but yet have them forfeit their soul Satan wants our kids and this world is trying to pull them away from the things of God Satan is trying to divide their affection we must!
[41:45] go to war for the hearts and minds family discipleship it can be intimidating and at times challenging but man is it rewarding as a result we get to see and experience first hand the spiritual growth of our kids moving forward parents you are the primary spiritual leaders for your children you are most important thing for you to do is teach your kids to love Jesus and do what works for your family in this season of life it's not going to look the same as it does for other families there is no cookie cutter way you are going to have to navigate schedules and activities and things going on at work and whatever and I want to say this to you because I don't want to leave you with the wrong impression because I know y'all thought that I was perfect and I got all this right
[42:46] I'm not right coach a friend of mine sitting in the back I'm glad he's not up here sharing about the lack of perfection in my life I'm not where I need to be either but I ain't where I used to be not who I used to be I don't act the way I used to the moment I trusted Jesus my identity changed I became a new creation I went from image bearer enemy having value to image bearer royalty being a son of the king and everything changed for me if you have yet to trust Jesus what are you waiting on what are you waiting on what are you holding on to that you've convinced yourself that you don't need him are you ready to repent ready to change your mind about what you've been chasing after if you've already trusted him are you ready to start pouring into the future generations like you need to man
[43:58] I hope so see the Bible tells us how to be saved all who come to faith are saved by one thing one thing only God purifying our hearts through belief in Jesus Christ that's it he is the way he is the truth he is the life and the relationship you have with him is worthy for you to focus on worthy for you to pass on to the next generations God thank you for today thank you for this opportunity thank you for this group of people pray a blessing over them pray that you will continue to lead them closer to you through the study and understanding of your word God I pray that you continue to mold us and shape us into who you want us to be in Jesus name Amen