Okay, it goes under your shirt. It goes like this. Okay. Okay. On my spine. Can you put that on there actually for me? I'm having a hard time with my dexterity. Oh, is that what it was? All right. So when I'm done, just leave it over to your laptop. Are you going to be here? OK. All right. Thanks. Am I all turned on like I need to be? All right! There's my man. I love it. How you doing? How's the glare factor here? Can you guys see this all OK? All right. Okay, we're four minutes down, so let's get going. Let's pray. Father God, thank you for family camp. Thank you for an opportunity to come and to be strengthened as families, to learn your word, to sharpen our skills of worshiping you. In Jesus' name, amen. I think that there's a bibliography hanging around. I don't know if I'll talk much about it at the end. But one of the things, hopefully, we'll get to is the place of history and heroes and people who have gone before us and setting them up as people to be admired by our kids. As we're singing the last song, who wrote that last song? What was the last song we sang in chapel? Who wrote it? William Cooper. OK. You can't answer. Oh. OK. Because she knows where I'm going. So does anybody know who William Cooper or Cowper's pastor was? Connie? I can't answer. Oh. I'll let you answer now since nobody else knows. John Devereux. No. He lived in England. So it would have been. It was John Newton, yeah. So one of the things I have on there is some audio. The only reason I know that is because Connie, I don't know, a few years ago, downloaded me some audio biographies by Piper. And he does a biography on each of them. And it's astounding the things you can learn about saints of old. So if you know the history and you read that song, you know the heroism of John Newton. William Cowper was a disaster. His life was a train wreck. He lived much of his life in Great Depression. Newton was his pastor. Newton would fish him out of the ditch time and time again. Cowper was an incredibly gifted poet. He could do incredible things with pen and paper. And if it wasn't for Newton, we wouldn't have that song. So Newton's a hero, somebody to follow. Anyways, we're going to talk about heroes, which makes us think about road models, which makes us think about patterns and how we should live our life. And what I want to do today is talk a little bit about that. And at the end, I want to talk about God's glory. We need to have something to fit in here in the middle at some point, all right? So as we go along, I want us to fill in a missing element, a missing element. And as we get into the body of what we want to talk about, I want to talk about three things. about the idea of patterns or things we can model concerning God, the Father, and then the Incarnate Son, and then from the Apostle Paul, because that's where kind of some of the literature in the scripture rolls from. Obviously, if C was the Holy Spirit, that would fit more nicely, but that's not what I found as I did some searching around. I'm going to be drawing upon this book. You guys have seen this book. This is Doug Bond. He's a teacher up in Tacoma. He's got, I think, his 21st chapter. I can't remember what the chapter's called. It's not called anything about heroes, but that's basically what he ends up dealing with. And he has some quotes here I want to share with you. In fact, I'll start out with a couple. He quotes a guy named Carlyle, who has said, hero worship cannot cease until man himself ceases. And then Bond opens his chapter, and he talks about heroes this way. He says, Let's see if some fathers and sons stand fast in the way of truth. Steve Kelly, sports writer for the Seattle Times, recently recollected the advice his father used to give him when they sat together watching the Philadelphia Phillies at Connie Mack Stadium. He says, pay attention, his dad would say, when Willie Mays came to bat. You're watching greatness. You don't want to forget this. Then Bond goes on and talks about his ineptness at baseball. And he continues saying, through all this, however, I figured something important out. I pay attention when men I think are great, and I desperately try to be like them, and so do you. We all, or at least everybody besides Asa Lopez, we all tend to look for people to look up to. We want to find people that we can say, this person, Asa and I talked about this yesterday, so I'm picking on him. We all look for people that we want to have in our lives, and we want to try to be like them. And they stretch us, hopefully. They stretch us toward something. When you guys think of the idea of a hero, or a role model, or something to pattern our lives after, what are some of the things you guys think of? Superman. Superman, OK, good. What else? Savior. Savior, OK. Anything else? OK. OK, that's more of a characteristic. Good. Anything else? They're good at what they do. They have a degree of excellence in what they do. Well, you know, I was thinking about, some of you guys are pretty young. You don't even know who Willie Mays is. I saw him in the very twilight of his career. He wasn't much of a ball player then, but he was amazing when he was younger. And I think about, if Willie Mays was your hero when you were a kid, what are you going to do? If you have a chance, you're going to wear his number, right? If you have the opportunity, you're going to, yeah, he was famous for his basket catch. He would catch the ball like that. So you're going to do that. If your hero is Michael Jordan, you're going to wear the baggy shorts. If you can afford them, you're going to wear the shoes. You're going to behave in ways that are going to be like the person you look up to. And it's amazing how this is so natural. We get the yellow pages, and sometimes they'll have things about the Blazers in it. And my son, he's got to have that, right? There's like a little fold-out poster of the Marcus Aldridge, and he's got to have it. Daddy, daddy, you know? I never say, son, you need to grow up, and you need to have this picture, and it's important for you to follow this. No, it's there. It was there when he was two. For some reason, he is attracted to that stuff. He's just hard with it. Yeah, he's hardwired that way in some ways. So some of us are that way more than others. I know a couple years ago when our girls were a little smaller, when they played Little House on the Prairie, the question is never who's going to be Mary, right? The question is, who's going to be Laura? Right? Because she's the one who's the main character. So who's going to be Laura becomes the first issue that has to be settled. So we're drawn and we're attracted to people we want to be like. Well, the thing I want to talk about today is that when we think about these things, we need to look at it as an opportunity for discipleship. We need to look at it as an opportunity to glorify God. And we need to capitalize on, like most of our kids are going to have a tendency, and I'm thinking in our kids in a younger demographic, but I think it applies really at any age. It applies to how we work with our kids, what kind of appetite we want to give them for who we're going to look up to, be they alive, be they dead. And how can we go about that? So we want to get to the glory of God. We're going to start out talking about heroes and role models. We want to talk about some things, some scriptures that relate to God the Father, the incarnate Son, and then some things that the Apostle Paul has left for us in scripture. And we're going to talk about some principles under each. Only one principle under the Father, five different principles under the Son, and three principles under the Apostle Paul. So anyways, let's get going on that. First of all, under God the Father. And the one principle under that is this. And of course, This terminology is not adequate to deal with God the Father. He's not a hero to us. He transcends that. He's not a role model. He transcends that. But there's some principles that we can draw from scripture relating to God the Father that can help us in thinking through this for our kids. The first principle is this. Our kids' morals and character is based and dependent upon God's person and attributes as we can and should share in those attributes of God. And this is foundational. Let me read that again. Our kid's morals and characters is based and dependent upon God's person and attributes. And we can and should share in those attributes of God. And this is a foundational idea. Now, so what do I mean by that? There's two kinds of attributes of God. You may tell me, he said, I know them. There are two kinds of attributes or characteristics of who God is in his person. Can you tell me what those two kinds of attributes are? It's Thursday and family camp. We're getting tired. Some of God's attributes are communicable, right? And some of them are incommunicable. Do we know what those words mean? A communicable attribute of God. Rose, I think I saw you nodding your head. What's a communicable attribute of God? Okay, so what would be an example of that? Anybody think of one? Kindness, love, holiness. We can, in some small way, mirror back God's holiness, his kindness, his love, his grace. What would be an incommunicable attribute? Something we cannot share in. Okay, good. Anything else? Good, those are a couple of ones that stuck out in my mind too. We can't do that. It's beyond us as finite beings. We can't even really begin to do that. Well, let's look at a few passages of scriptures. First would be Leviticus 11, 44 and 45. It says, for I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourself and you shall be, pardon me, holy, for I am holy. shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God, and you shall therefore be holy as I am holy." So God's saying there, under the first thing we will look at, that I'm holy, you should be holy. So he becomes a pattern and character and conduct for us that is set before us in the person of God of how we should be. You can look up Leviticus 19.2, basically says a similar thing. But if you go to the New Testament, this is God the Son speaking about God the Father. And this is who Jesus points us to as far as character. He says in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, Jesus says, therefore you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect. Foundational to ethics and essential to ethics has to be grounded in the person and character of God. Who we are, the character we want our kids need to be grounded in what's revealed in scripture and who God is and revealed in scripture. So that's a pattern for us to point our kids to, to direct our kids to. And everything else is dependent upon that. We need in the power of the spirit to reflect who God is and as much as we are able to as far as the communicable attributes of God. So that's a principle under God the Father. If you want to look at some principles under the God the Son, I want to talk about five of those, and I'll try to remember to read them twice. The first principle is this, following Jesus was such a compelling thing in the first century as to inspire followers to leave their vocation in pursuit of Him. Alright? Principle number one is, following Jesus was such a compelling thing in the first century as to inspire followers to leave their vocation in pursuit of him. Matthew 4 says, then he, that would be Jesus, said to them, that would be Andrew and Peter, if memory serves me correct, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. So what did they do? They immediately left their nets and followed him. So the person of Christ was so astounding that they were willing to walk away from their calling. They were willing to walk away from their vocation. Remember, after Christ's death, what does Peter do? He goes back to fishing. In the meantime, he has walked away from that as far as we know. And we need to have that kind of response to Christ that he is so worthy of following that if we had to, and most of us are not called to do that, we're called to enter into our vocation, but he's such a compelling pattern for our lives, he's such an outstanding character that we would forsake anything to follow him. The second principle is this, following Christ for us and our children means setting aside our agenda and placing ourselves under Christ and his design and purposes even unto death. Okay, so again, following Christ for us and our children means setting aside our agenda and placing ourselves under Christ and his designs and purposes even unto death. And so let's read Matthew 16 says, and Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone desires to come after me, okay, to follow him, to be somebody who we would want to be like, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. So if you take up your cross, what are you doing? You're going to death, right? You're going to follow Christ in the death. You're setting aside yourself. You're setting aside what you want, your agenda, what you want your life to be about, and you're going to follow Him. You're going to subject yourself to Him and His Lordship. Christ paid the ultimate price, and we need to follow him in that regard. The third principle is this, we and our children become like those we put ourselves under to be taught by. We become like those we submit ourselves to. Jesus says in Luke 6, a disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. So we'll be like those who teach us. We'll be like those we put ourselves under. I want my daughters to be like their mom, especially as she is Christ-like. As we subject ourselves to people, they will have an impact on our lives. Teachers are role models. Teachers are people we pattern ourselves out, not in some sort of line-by-line sort of way, but they have an impact on us. It's amazing how much my daughters are becoming like their mother. And that's a good thing, most of the time. So influences rub off on us. And who we choose to place ourself under, either in some sort of direct, day-to-day, tangible way, or even in distance admiring, has an impact on us. The fourth principle is, role models are not above modeling. I'm sorry, let me say that again. Role models are not above modeling what they want us to do. In fact, generally, they should be examples to us. So role models are not above modeling what they want us to do. They should be good examples to us. Jesus says in John 13, by the way, what's going on in John 13? You can tell us that. John 13, do you remember? Christ is getting ready to go to the cross. He is in the upper room with his disciples. They have dirty feet and they need something done. So what's Christ going to do for them? He's going to wash their feet. So John 13, he says this, I have given you an example. He's just washed their feet. I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to do. Jesus wasn't into do as I say and not as I do. He did for them what he wanted them to do. He modeled for them the principles he wanted them to live. So somebody who we pattern our lives after, somebody who is a hero, if that's adequate terminology in a particular case, somebody we pattern our lives after, hopefully they're people who will be people who their actions match up with their words. J.C. Ryle said, precept may teach us, but it is example that draws us. Precept may teach us, but it is example that draws us. Anybody have any questions, comments, so far? Okay, all right. So, God the Father sets the ultimate standard. We have the incarnate Son who gives us some principles, or at least there's some principles in what he says as far as following. Well, let's listen to some specific things and try to hone in a little more narrowly what I want to put in here under some things the Apostle Paul says. Tim! Yeah. So what's next to my outline? Ephesians 5. There you go. Tim, he wants to give me a peek. That's great. Good. OK, so that's actually the next principle is what Tim has brought up. So under the Apostle Paul, and he has a lot to say about this. I think it's three different principles under the Apostle Paul. The first principle, oops, did I skip a page? Actually, it's not next. I had skipped a page. I've got to rearrange my paper. We will get to that in a minute, though. The Apostle Paul, with some of the thoughts he has on modeling, on role models, and real loosely the idea of heroes, the first principle I have is this. It is appropriate to exhort those under our care to follow our example. That's kind of threatening to me. It is appropriate to exhort those under our care to follow our example. I have a hard time saying to my kids, you do what I do. That seems kind of arrogant. Listen to what Paul says. Of course, he's an apostle, but in Ephesians 3.17 he says, brethren, join in following my example and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern. So Paul has no problem saying, listen, you see how I'm doing things, you know what I've taught you, look at my life, and don't be afraid to follow. It's a good thing. He goes on in Philippians 4, verse 9, he says, these things which you have learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. We gotta draw principles, because I'm not an apostle, you're not an apostle. But yet, Paul's in a position of authority over the church of Philippians, the church of Philippi, and he can set himself up as a role model. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that, especially if you're following Christ in the process. Second principle under the Apostle Paul would be this. Our example, or the examples we encourage our children to follow, should be Christ-like examples. They should be Christ-like examples. First passages, 1 Corinthians 4, 16 and 17, which says, Therefore, I urge you, imitate me, okay, the Apostle Paul. For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son of the Lord, who will remind you of my ways, where? In Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church. So, it's not just following Paul, it's following Paul as Paul follows Christ. That has to be the principle that's involved. In 1 Corinthians 11 he says, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. So Paul's a great role model, but actually what's he doing? Paul's pointing up above here to Christ. So it's not all about Paul, if Paul's the third thing we're talking about. Paul's got to point back to a higher standard than himself. Paul, in and of himself, is not adequate to be followed. It's as he's following Christ that he's worthy to be followed. In his own sinful nature, he's not worthy of being followed. Third principle under the Apostle Paul. Our examples for our kids under Christ's likeness should involve, or can involve, labor, work, and money. In other words, real life, tangible things. Not just gnostic, other world ideas, but real life, tangible things. Our example for our kids under Christ's likeness may involve labor, work, and money, real life rubber meets the road sort of things. A couple of texts. First is from Acts 20, verses 33 to 35. This is Paul speaking. I think he's talking to the Ephesian elders, he says, I have coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities and those who are with me. Okay, he's saying I'm working hard, I'm not mooching off you. I have shown you, all right, he's doing things, he's showing them, I have shown you in every way, he's setting an example here, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he said, is more blessed to give than receive. He's putting his teaching into action. He's saying, you know, you've got to help those who are in need, and it's more blessed to give than receive. We only know that it's more blessed to give and receive as far as those explicit words from scripture, because of Paul telling us those there. We don't have that quote in the Gospels. He just didn't teach things. He demonstrated things, the Apostle Paul. He was around them. They saw what he did. He was a role model for them. He was a pattern. He practiced what he preached, and they saw it. Another one would be that same principle. It would be 2 Thessalonians 3. 6 to 10, basically the same idea. But we commend you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to tradition which he received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you, nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge. but worked with labor in toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. Not because we did not have authority, in other words, they could have said, hey, we need some financial help. Paul had every right to ask for assistance financially, but he wasn't going to do that. But to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. He is self-consciously putting himself in a position where he has to work hard because he wants to provide an example for them. He's taking time out of ministry to make tents or whatever he was doing at that time because he knew that the power of example was so strong that that was, I don't know, maybe worth a few teaching sessions. that he could teach by the very actions and reinforce what his mouth was saying, but what his hands were doing. He goes on and says, for even if we were with you, we command you this, if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. So, this is real down-to-earth stuff, the Apostle Paul. He's not off in some room writing theological dissertations. No, he's amongst them, he's teaching them, he's demonstrating what he's teaching, and he's showing them what has to be done. He is being a model to them. Okay, the fifth principle, and here's what Tim brought in earlier. As with God the Father, in the first ideas we looked at. God the Son is to be followed or patterned after in his character as we live out our lives. I have four brief texts on this. Let me read that again. As with God the Father, first thing we looked at, God the Son is to be followed or patterned after his character as we live out our lives. First one is Ephesians 5 that Tim brought up, and it says, Therefore be imitators of God, dear friends, and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and has given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. So Paul teaches this, that we need to be self-sacrificing as Christ was self-sacrificing, so we're to be imitators of God. And then in Philippians 2, 5-3, Paul wrote, Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it to be a robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of man. And being found in the appearance of man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." Now, I think I just realized what I've done here. This wasn't order. This actually, what I'm saying to you right now, actually goes up in the Apostle Paul. So I apologize for my notes out of order here. Actually, it's going back up to Christ. And then, let's see, Colossians 3, 12 to 13. Therefore, as elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another and forgiving one another. If anyone has complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. So you also must do. And 1 Peter, uh-oh, our time's up. 1 Peter 2 talks about Christ being an example to us. And so, we need to wrap this up real quick because... Oh, is it 10.30? Oh, good. Oh, good. I'm much more relaxed then, that's good. All right, so. We've looked at a transcendent standard, being God the Father, right? We look at an incarnate standard, being God the Son, and then we've looked at a standard that's probably a little closer to, you know, our situation, which would be the Apostle Paul, he'd be somebody that talks a lot about modeling and about imitating. The question I asked at the beginning is, what is it we can put here in the middle that'll move us from the idea of heroes or role models or patterns for us and our kids that can move us to a life or situations that cause us to glorify God? And I want to reread a few of these texts and see if you can help me Discover that. What is it that we can put in the middle there from these texts that we've read that can move us in that direction? So to reread a few of the texts, it would be, first one would be 1 Corinthians 11.1. Look for a common denominator. Imitate me, Paul says, just as I imitate Christ. In 1 Corinthians 4. 16 and 17 says, therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son of the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ as I teach everywhere in every church. Colossians 3 says, Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so also you must do. Do you guys see anything that's a common denominator in those texts? That would help us in thinking through there. It's Thursday and we're tired, I know. What Paul seems to be pointing out is this. what he seems to be highlighting. Paul seems to be pointing us towards Christ's likeness. Appreciate how that's kind of come out in some of the talks we've had this week. Paul's pointing us towards Christ's likeness. You know, just don't follow Paul. You need to be following Paul as he's following Christ. And he says, Paul sets up Christ as the example or a pattern ourselves. You know, follow me as I follow Christ, even as Christ, right? So Christ becomes the example. See, he's incarnation, right? Much of who God is is incommunicable, right? Christ in the flesh comes and he becomes a pattern that we can relate to and that Paul can point to. So the idea isn't ultimately becoming like Paul, or becoming like, you know, John Newton, right? The issue ultimately is becoming Christlike. So as we do that, right, that glorifies God. Moving to Christlikeness, for us to move to Christlikeness, for us to encourage and equip and ultimately by the power of the Holy Spirit, us moving to Christlikeness, that's glorifying to God. God's glorified when us little C's act like the big C. That's something that's honoring to him. And that should be a big part of what we want to do with the discipleship of our kids. That should be a big part of what we want to do with the discipleship of our kids. Well, so what do we do with, oh boy, I don't know why I think of this example, but what do we do, what do we do with my son when the Blazer poster comes, and he thinks that's the coolest thing, all the yellow pages, and You know, he thinks that, you know, Lamarcus Aldrich is the coolest, is the greatest thing to a Swiss cheese. I don't know Lamarcus Aldrich. I don't know if he's a Christian or not a Christian. But let's just say, for example, he's not. All right? So how do we help our kids think through, work through people they may be attracted to? that aren't necessarily Christ-like. How do we do that? Because we can talk about this stuff, and it's really good theory, and it's been helpful to me to think through some, but we have to actually make decisions. help and direct our kids day-to-day, whether they're two, whether they're six, whether they're 15, whatever, what are we going to do with them if, you know, if you want to argue about this point here, we can do that, but, you know, I'm teaching the class, so for right now, it'll be a given, all right? How do we help them make decisions? How do we guide them? How do we direct them to have people set before them, to have the role models before them, to have people they're going to patter them lives after. Because there's some people, I don't want my kids pattering themselves after. How do we do that? How do we help them? Anybody have any ideas? Tim? Plank one, I mean, because I taught on it yesterday, the three consistent family worship. OK. And just daily showing them where they can have their focus and their heart. All right. Okay. All right. Yes. Good. Keep going. Right, good. Yes, Asa? That's what I was going to say. Right, right. Okay, good. So this is what I want to say. I really appreciate all what you're saying. You know, if you think through somebody's life, and you can, you know, make a pie, you know, different parts of their life, you know, they really can't be Christ-like until or unless they have faith in Christ. Right? They have to have faith in Christ really for them to be a primary example to us. But if our child is drawn to whoever, then we can look at that person and say, you know, son, you gotta understand who this person is. Christ is in their life. You know what? This person works really hard. My children never had a chance to meet my dad. If my dad was alive, in fact, I talked to him about this and they never met him. I talk about his work ethic. My dad was not Christ-like. not even approaching it. Love my dad, don't get me wrong, but I talk to him about my dad's work ethic. I talk to him about how he loved kids. I talk to him about how he loved dogs. So I try to highlight for them what there was to appreciate in my dad. Could he be somebody who would be an upper tier sort of hero or role model? No, but they can appreciate and learn from and grow for some places in my dad's life. So if you have you know, a player that maybe, you know, I'm thinking sports because that's the way I kind of grew up, that, you know, you can point out to your son, say, hey, listen, you know, this guy, he can really shoot a basketball. He just didn't show up one day, and he wouldn't become a great shooter. He had to work at it. He worked hard. He sacrificed. He spent time. He neglected other areas of his lives to do that well. Now, you can show it as a good. You can also say, but you know what, son? He may have idolized that. He may have given up things he shouldn't have had to give up. So you can teach in different directions with the same example. You can say that Kobe Bryant, yeah, he may be one of the best basketball players in the world, but what did he sacrifice to get there? Or you can point to a godly example and say, look what he sacrificed, but yet he remained faithful to Christ. So you can look at every opportunity as an example to bring out different things. I think one of the other things we need to do is to create an appetite. for best examples. That's why I hand out that bibliography. That's just a starting point. I'm sure Eli could give you a much longer list. But to get into history with your kids, for them to know who John Newton was, for them to know who John Patton was. There you go. Oh, man. I didn't know who John Patton was a year and a half ago. Whoa. Presbyterian missionary to the New Hebrides. Unbelievable what he went through. I want my son to look up to John Patton. So if you can take resources. Expose your kids to them. Tell them what is admirable in this person. Show them how they're Christ-like. Show them how they self-consciously glorified God. Give them an appetite for those things, for those to be front burner things. Our culture will give them, even if you homeschool, even if you don't expose them to a lot of media, they're going to have opportunities to see all these different people who can get their attention. But build an appetite in them for even higher and better role models, while at the same time equipping them to think Through, we saw the Star Wars, you know, the first one they made, whatever, you know, it's confusing. The first one, the fourth one, however you want to say it. The first one that was made, we watched it recently, and I tried to equip my kids, before we watch it, what were the world view issues, you know, who's noble, who's not noble, and at the same time, say, you know what, watch it and enjoy it. There's some really cool things in this movie. But help them understand what they're seeing. Help them understand what they're interacting. You've got to know your kids. You've got to understand their maturity level. And work through all that. A few things in closing. We've got a few more minutes. Well, one thing is, be an example to your kids. Is that one of the things that hopefully we get out of this, that us in this room, we need to be an example to the kids, or to our nieces and nephews, or to the kids at church, whoever, we need to be an example to them. We need to be an example in word, we need to be an example in deed, we need to be people who are not perfect, obviously, but who show them Christ and Christ-likeness. The power of his spirit in a way that glorifies God. 3 John 11 says, Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God. So there's an antithesis there. In our training, we can help our kids work through that antithesis. Proverbs 13.20 says, he who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed. So, you know, take a, Connie brought this, you know, we didn't even talk about her bringing this, but she's been reading this to the kids every night before we go to bed. This is on bibliography. You know, it's Hero Tales, a family treasury of true stories from the lives of Christian heroes. All right? So in here you have, Just to glance through, you have Hudson Taylor. You have William Tyndale. By the way, have you guys ever seen Man for All Seasons? If you've seen that movie, you need to listen to Piper's biography on Tyndale. You'll look at Sir Thomas more differently then. John Wesley. Let's see. Ednorum Judson, David Livingstone, Martin Luther, Scott Moody, and people like that. Expose your kids to people like that. expose them to people who are, you know, something about somebody being dead, too, isn't there? You know? We don't tend to see the cracks in their lives as well. That can be a good thing and a bad thing, I suppose. But be a role model to your kids. Christ was a pattern for us to follow in his life, in his death, and in his words. And you know, this is a multi-generational thing, too, isn't it? If I admire somebody, that might have an impact on my grandkids. So have a good reservoir of people that your kids can draw upon to point out to their kids. And they'll have a bigger list, hopefully, because more people have come and died after us. And they can point to other people, too. Anything else? Any other questions, comments? Rebecca? I did. I brought a Little House bonnet, and I brought a baseball mitt. I just didn't feel like being, you know, I'd be with the Willie Mays and the Ingalls thing. I just decided not to do it. I thought I was a little cheesy, so I thought I wouldn't. But I thought of it, yes. I had told my girls, I need a Little House bonnet, so they brought me one. We don't get the Little House bonnets out very much anymore. That was a big deal a couple of years ago. My daughter is rolling her eyes, yes? All right. Laura and Mary were a big deal there for a while. Yeah, and that hair is Jack. So, Tim. I think it's important for our sons and daughters to see us having heroes. Okay. Looking for people that we look up to. Good. Josiah said, Dad, why do you spend so much time talking to so-and-sos? Because I really respect. Yeah. And I see my son and I really respect Doug Concert. My son now looks at Doug differently. My respect and love for him, my desire to learn from him. So my son is now, I'll see him sit at the table, move around, to be able to hear from him, because he's seen me do that. Likewise, if he sees me looking for people who are not necessarily the righteous heroes, to make opportunities for them to have a little chance to learn? Connie self-consciously really works on that. She actually asks our daughters, who do you look up to? And she looks for opportunities for them to be around them, spend the night, stuff like that. Yeah, that's a really good point. And I think what underlies all that is that when your kids are in the demographic our kids are in, and yours too, yet some of them are a little bit older, that you have incredible credibility with them. It is scary sometimes how much they will take what you say. It's kind of humbling because then you've got to be careful what you say. But yeah, so I guess one of the points I want to push is to capitalize on that. Don't let it slide by. Capitalize on that and use it for God's glory. Use it untowards Christ's likeness. Anything else? I appreciate the opportunity to teach on this. It's made me think through it some more. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for this camp. I pray that the families of this church will be stronger because of this. I pray for our elderly folks, our singles, our kids, our families, that we would all see ourselves as connected to each other, that we need each other. and that we need to be examples to each other. I pray that your spirit would give us the grace to do that, to be that, to your glory. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you. How do I turn?