And you may be seated. We'll dismiss in a little while. This is short for the crush. And if you want, you can open up your Bibles to our text from last Sunday morning, 2 Samuel chapter 5. I'm sorry I don't have the page number for you on that, but 2 Samuel chapter 5, if you want to turn there, it'll be our starting point at the end. We're going to continue a series which I didn't know I began last Sunday morning. I wrote a message, but... Believe it or not, I preached one point last Sunday morning. I preached point two Sunday night. I realized each point basically is a message. In the original message that I wrote, I had five points that I wanted to deal with. In my notes last Sunday morning, I really only had two because I realized what I didn't fully realize how long it would take to go through that information. as we looked at this idea of battle. So if you missed part two, and you want to hear it, it is on the Facebook page, it is on our church website. This is part three of a series as we consider winning the battle by following God into battle. Just a very simple thought, but winning battle as we follow God into battle. Our starting text last week, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and today, as we look at this, is 2 Samuel chapter 5 and verses 17 through 25. And by way of review, we'll read it. It says, but when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, All the Philistines came up to seek David, and David had heard of it, and went down to the hole. The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephiam, and David inquired the Lord, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? Wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the Lord said unto David, Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into thine hand. And David came to Baal-perazim, and David spoke unto him there, and said, the Lord hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as a breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim, and there they left their images, and David and his men burned them. And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, Thou shalt not go up, but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself, for then shall the Lord go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines. And David did so, as the Lord had commanded him, and smote the Philistines from Geba until they had come unto Gaza. David was prospering. His kingdom was finally established, not only over just Judah, but also over Israel. He's got this nice house that he has built. His family's prospering. His family's growing. And right at that point, the Philistines hear about David's in charge of Israel. They come up to do battle. And so often, the Word of God, all Scripture, obviously, is of benefit to us, right? And so often, though, the Word of God in these Old Testament stories shows a physical battle. to make us realize that there's a spiritual battle and that there's an enemy that's unseen that is battling against us, all right? And so David's into this physical battle. It's a great picture of a spiritual battle. And as he goes into battle, God was leading David into both battles, okay? And so we see it in verse 20 as he said in the first battle, the Lord hath broken forth upon my enemies before me as a breach of waters. Therefore, he called the name of that place, Bale of Charizard. Water is incredibly powerful. And I saw an AccuWeather short video on that app on my phone, and it was just a shallow water rescue that was taking place. It just looked to be maybe six inches deep of water, but it took a lady off her feet and took a dog, almost took that dog into water. Water is incredibly powerful. They said this past week in news that There are people with the climate change situation being afraid that the water levels are going to rise, that they want invested a billion pounds a year in flood defences around the UK, just to protect the UK from the water. Sadly, in Brazil this past year, you might have seen that that dam burst, and I watched a video of it. Very sad thing to see that earthen wall of that dam just give way, and I mean the forest disappears, and it just takes everything before it. That's the power of water. And David said, just like that, God has broken forth, he's burst forth upon my enemies, just like that, before him. Baal-Pirazim. Baal is the idolatrous god of the Canaanites. And Pirazim means having rents burst. It's like God blew them up till they popped. I mean, it's like God just destroyed Baal before David. In the second battle, God went before David in verse 24. It says, Let it be when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself, for then shall the Lord go out before thee to smite the host of the Philistines. And so, David was told to wait, and very clearly the Word of God says, the Spirit of God is going to go out before you. I mean, that sounded like going in the tops of mulberry trees. A very precious picture to us, and everything that we seek to do for God in our battle that we're facing for Achaia, we desire to see God go out before us, the Spirit of God. Just like Jesus said, as we looked at about four weeks ago now, in Luke chapter 24, that Jesus said, carry you into the city of Jerusalem until you be a dude with power from on high. And that desire to, God said, hey, the cause is evangelism, but wait until God goes out before you. And so in all these battles, it's so important that God's Spirit goes before us in the battle. Now, again by way of review, okay, five ways David got himself behind God as he went into battle. And he prayed about the battle each time before attacking. It says in verse 19 and verse 23, David inquired the Lord. He didn't make the mistake that Joshua did in the second battle that they faced as they sent the men up to defeat the second city after Jericho. It was Ai. And not seeking God on it. He prayed about it and said, Lord, will I do as I get ready to go into this battle? And he got a promise from God regarding victory. Verse 19 says, God said, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into thy hand. Verse 24, for then shall the Lord go out before thee to smite the host of the Philistines. And so in both cases, David went in battle. David went expecting victory. I mean, anticipating victory. Why? Because David had a promise that God said, you will be victorious. He said, you're going to fight against the Philistines. Then third. He let God lead him into battle. Verse 19 again says go up and David talked about how God broke forth before him. Verse 23 says fetch a compass behind them and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. And David, as he got behind God, he got God's plan. He let God lead him out into battle and fight the way that God intended him to fight. It wasn't the same. He couldn't look at battle number one and say, well, God said to go up. Battle number two, God said, don't go up, but come around behind. And so there was a very specific plan that God had. And then fourth, he stirred himself to action when God's spirit moved. Verse 20 says, And David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there. Verse 24 and 25, Then shalt thou be stirred thyself, for then shall the Lord go out before thee to smite the host of Philistines. And David did so as the Lord had commanded him. Now God's already promised victory. David's already prayed about it. He's trusting God for victory. God's going out before him. But there's a plan, isn't there? And David has to stir himself up and do that plan. Even though God's going to give the victory as a church or as a family or in the battles that we're facing, even though God's going to make us victorious, there still is us stepping out to stir ourselves up and say, but I'm going to do that for God. I'm going to fight that battle and win it for the Lord. And then he destroyed all that pertained to the enemy. Verse 21 says, they left their images, and David and his men burned them. Verse 25, and David did so, and smoked the Philistines from Geba until they'll come unto Gaza. And so as David got the victory, David didn't just leave a little bit of the enemy to kind of exist. He destroyed it. He got rid of it so that he could have victory over the enemy and actually win the war against that enemy as he won the battle. And so my message again this morning is get behind God to get the victory. Last Sunday we looked at two battles. We took them as examples that we can't fight those battles here, but we can examine them, we can apply the truth that David gives us about the battle. And so we applied it to Sunday morning evangelism. Sunday night to righteousness. Two very important battles. We're talking about Sunday night. You can't really win the battle of evangelism and really the battle that we're going to talk about today until you win the battle of righteousness. The battle of righteousness is one of the most important battles that we face. But there's these different wars that are taking place and the battle that we're going to look at this morning is the parenting battle. Battle of parenting. Embracing a godly seed. Raising a godly family. Do you know there's an enemy that wants you to lose this battle? There's a breakdown in the family, in our world. Entities are being destroyed and Satan is picking apart the family as he attacks the family. It's our desire as a church to raise a godly seed, but there's a very direct attack upon our family. When Satan attacked Job, one of the first targets he physically attacked was the children of Job. Job 118, while he was yet speaking, telling him about the trials that had come to, the servant speaking to Job, telling him about the trials that had come. There came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house. And behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness and smote the four corners, of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead. And I only am escaped alone to tell thee, then Job arose and wrenched his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground of worship. And David's heartbroken because, I mean, we know as parents that our children are very dear unto us. I mean, that is the, if you ask what is the most precious thing that you possess in your house, it's not going to be anything to do with the building or the things that you possess. In a parent's heart, it's our kids, right? That's very important to us. And we look at the story and say, but that was a physical battle against Joe's kids. But it touched him where it really hurt. And praise God, it seems like Job was winning the spiritual battle with his children. The Bible says in Job 1.5, it was so when the days of their feasting were gone about, the children of Job, that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continue. And so Job had a great interest in the spiritual well-being of his family. Every day he's getting up as a man of God, he's getting on his knees before God and saying, Oh God, spare my kids, save my kids. And so though Job lost his children physically to death, it seems like spiritually, Job was winning the battle. Sadly, some families that we look at in the Word of God, not just lost their kids to death, and not because of Satan, but because of God's judgment, but also to spiritual destruction as well. And Eli comes to mind, God's high priest. 1 Samuel 3 verse 13 says, For I told him that I would judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth, because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained the none. The sons of Eli, he was a priest, he was God's man, and yet the sons of Eli were men that were wicked. The Bible says that they were sleeping with women at the door of the temple. It says that they were taking and abusing the privilege of the priest and the offerings that were given to God. But Eli restrained him not. And once again, in 2, verse 27, there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Did I plainly appear unto the house of my father, when they were in Egypt, in Pharaoh's house? and that I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? And did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel? Wherefore, take ye out my sacrifice, and out my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honorest thy sons above me? Listen, in Sunday School we talked about idolatry. Briefly, we talked about family can be idols. Eli exalted his sons. He cared more about his sons and what they thought about him than Eli cared about being a godly parent, reaching his sons and honoring God. Okay? And he lost his kids. Not just to physical death, though they're going to die, because God's going to judge them, but to spiritual death. And so he's told, this shall be a sign unto thee that shall come upon thy two sons on Hophni and Phinehas, in one day they shall die, both of them. And I will raise thee up a faithful priest that shall do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before mine anointed forever. And in the story, you've got a young man, Samuel. He's rising up. He's a child, but he loves God. And he is able to say at the end of his life to the people, he said, look, you've known me from a child that I've obeyed God, that I've not abused the privilege of being a priest. But you know what? If you ask the question, what about Samuel's voice? Sadly, Samuel's boys also went away from God, and walked not after God. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 8 verse 1, It came to pass when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. Now the name of the firstborn was Joel, and the name of the second, Abiah, they were judges, and Bersheba, And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after Lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment." And he said, Pastor, that's really sad. We're just looking at a failure, OK? Praise God. We can go to the Bible, and we can say Abraham. We studied Isaac at men's camp. And Abraham, God said, I know Abraham, that he'll command his children after me. Praise God. Isaac lived for God. Praise God. Jacob lived for God. Praise God. Joseph lived for God. And that's generational, right? Praise God. But the point is, this morning, there's a great battle. And some very godly men or women have lost the battle. And so what can we do? What is there that we can look at this? I hope that question is in your heart as a parent. I know it's in my wife and I's heart as parents that we look at our families and say, Dear God, what can we do? In this state where so many of our young people are growing up in church and they're going away from God and they're turning their back on the religion of their parents, right? What can we do to raise a godly seed? Well, we can do two things. We can act like it's not a battle and lose it, like righteousness, like evangelism. It's not a battle. I'm not interested in fighting it. Or we can get burdened by it and say, you know what? To win this thing, I've got to get behind God. And could I just have that door shut maybe one more time? Somebody shut the door there. Thank you. The thing is, God wants us to win it. And as a pastor, as a church, what I don't want is this. Praise God, we've got a lot of young people in our church, and it's our desire as a church to reach a lot of young people, a lot of young families. I don't want us as a church just to accept the fact that we can't reach our kids, and that they're going to grow up some day, they're going to go away from God, and that's just the way it is. or to have the heartbreak that we can have of too late trying to do something, too late trying to make a difference, too late trying to get interested in the battle. My desire as pastor is, hey, let's start at the starting point here, if this hasn't been in your heart and mind, and say, hey, today I'm going to focus on the fact that this is a battle, and by God's grace, as a godly parent, as a godly grandparent, as a godly adopted parent, as a man or woman in his church that cares about the children of his church, OK? I'm going to seek to save by God's grace. I want to help win that battle in our families so that we can honor God. It's so important. Let me point out that Samuel's children, because they rebelled against God, the people said, we want a king. They rejected God for a king. Eli's children, because they were so awful at church, Old Testament, people despised to come. You see it? I mean, it doesn't just affect my child. I want my child to go on for God, for their sake, but listen, I want the child to go on for God, for our family's sake, I want the child to go on for God, for our church's sake, for our community's sake, and most of all, for God's glory. Okay? And so let's ask that. God, help us to focus on this battle and say, hey, how can we get behind God and go into this battle? Let's pray and ask the Spirit of God to help us as we come to the Word of God. Father, I pray as we look at this message, and Lord, I'm pre-preaching maybe something that we're going to hear the 24th and the 26th. I'm so glad that we have a Stronger Families Seminar. We're talking about Stedman. Father, we pray for the power of God. Father, put it in the hearts of our families to be there, to participate, and to, by God's grace, say, I'm not going to miss, because God might have something very important about this battle at that time. But Father, as pastor, I have the privilege of preaching on the family, and I pray the Spirit of God will give me wisdom. Lord, I can't speak as I ought to speak without your help, and I pray the Spirit of God, please fulfill me. I pray the Spirit of God will guide me. Father, I pray, put in our hands things that we can use as parents and say, you know what? Let's win this battle. And father as a church family that it would be our burden. We've got kids that come to our church They are like adopted kids to us or they don't have safe parents. They don't have a Christian family, but we are the Christian family Father we want to help them. And so I pray in the spirit of God guide in the service I pray speak to each heart help us Lord to be built up by you. It's in Christ's name we pray Amen All right, so we're just going to fight just like we have those five points to the battle, in this case the battle of parenting. And so the first thing that David did as he got ready to go into battle is he prayed. He treated the Lord, the Bible says, twice. And let me just ask you this morning, do you feel wise enough to raise your children without a great sense of dependency upon God? I mean, do you feel capable? I mean, some of us remember what it was like when we got our first kid from the hospital. And you go in and you don't have children, but then you leave with one. And I remember putting that child, Kaylee in our case, into a car seat. And we got a Chevy Malibu and, you know, getting it back to the car and making sure the anchor points are just right. And you know what? The whole way home, I was nervous someone was going to ruin me. Seriously, anybody else like that? I don't know. I mean, the first time you put that precious package in the back, you're just nervous. But that's physical. I mean, there's all the things that are changing in our lives, and we've got the responsibility over somebody else's life. I mean, what a sober responsibility God's given. You have questions as parents. You know, in infancy, it's maybe just a question, where did they come from? You know, what's going on? You know, it must be their mother's side or something like that. You get to toddlers and you're thinking, you know, how do I teach them? How do I correct them? How do I keep up with them? Keep them corralled? And how do I do that as children? How do I protect them in their innocence? How do I guard them from the world? How do I answer all their questions? The kids are just full of questions, you know. Non-stop, some kids, you know, just constantly asking, asking, asking, because they're learning, they're taking it in. As teens, young adults, you know, we might be asking, what do I do now? How do I prepare them for life? How do I get them ready to go off to college or uni? How do I get them ready to step into business or whatever God has for them? How do I do that? And then you look at the kids and not only are they all different, they don't stay the same. You look back at pictures, and you remember, oh, I remember that kid. It's the same child you still got. It's just it was different back then. They're little, and you remember what they were like at that age. And they're just changing constantly. And so even if I learn how to deal with one that's this age, they're not all the same, and that one's going to change. And so how do I process that? And then there's different cultures and different families. And not any of us have the same environment in our home. And so what do we realize this morning? We're not going to succeed without God's help. We need wisdom. One of the best parenting verses that there is is just a very familiar verse in the Word of God, James 1 verse 5. If any of you lack wisdom, let me ask of God. that giveth to all men liberally, and if not, ye shall be given him." As godly parents, we ought to be in our hearts every day to get on our knees before God and say, Dear God, I don't know how to win this battle for parenting, if you intend me to win this battle, but I'm asking you today, give me wisdom to be a godly parent. Give me wisdom to guide that child. Give me wisdom to guide that child. Give me wisdom to guide that child, or the children that you're giving me. God, give me wisdom. Then pray, not just for wisdom, but pray for them. I remember hearing, my Grandma Shore was a godly lady, known for her prayer life and to her children and to us as grandkids as well. But I remember sitting in their living room as we had family devotions that, more than once, but one night in particular and probably multiple times, it's just a similar memory. And that is my Grandma weeping in prayer for her grandkids. That'll touch your heart as a kid you sit there listen to grandma praying for the grandkids I know my mom and dad prayed for me And I look back at my my childhood of my youth and I see God's grace of protecting me I see God's grace And then we had godly people in our church that I could tell you their names and I could tell you as a fact that they prayed for me back then and many of them that are still living are praying for me now, okay? Because they were involved in that thing too. I praise God somebody prayed for me. Can you kids say that? Can you kids say, as they grow up, praise God, my dad praised for me. Praise God, my mom praised for me. Praise God, they're interested in my life and they're impacting my life by their prayers. I mean, the first thing you got to do is entreat God. And say, God, help me to win that battle. So let's pray. Secondly, get a promise from God. Get a promise from God. This past Tuesday I did evangelism in Bigger and praise God, Bigger has received the flyer. It's actually a pretty large village that's out into the borders, okay, about 30 miles from here. But I'm out there on Tuesday and I was praying for a divided appointment, hadn't had any opportunities, and I got to the house, the door was open, man had just gone in, and the door was still open, so I just said, can I hand you something? And he popped his head out and said, sorry, that he didn't wait for it, and I handed it to him. And I said to Colin, I said, Colin, if you were to have to tell somebody how to go to heaven when they die, what would you say? He said, that's a tough question. I said, well, can I show you from the Bible what the Bible says is the answer to that question? He said, sure, go ahead. So I took out my phone. And I prayed that on Tuesday that I could have an opportunity to actually take somebody through the Word of God. And so I started to show him the gospel, and his heart was getting tender. I said, do you mind if I come in for a second? We've been talking about 25 minutes. He said, it's fine, come on in. I'm sorry I didn't ask you earlier. I went up to his living room. I showed him the gospel, and I mean, he was so close to accepting Christ. And I say, Colin, Romans 10, verse 9-10, Thou shalt confess with thy mouth and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. And like he did when he witnessed somebody, I said, you know what, God can't lie. And God said that. That's a promise. You can trust that promise, Colin. You know, praise God. He's not here today. I hope we'll see him in church. But Colin, pray and ask Jesus Christ to come into his heart and save him. Pray for Colin. But it's a great thing to be able to say to somebody when they're getting saved, look, God said it. If you put your faith in Jesus and trust in Him, God said it. He can't lie. He'll save you. I said to another young lady this week that read a verse about God's power to answer prayer and where Jesus says, Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. I'm so glad I was able to say to her, that's like a blank check. You sign it with God's name, you're able to go to that bank name. It's guaranteed. What's our ritual? Asking my name. That will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Praise God. You know, as we come in our parenting and ask God, are there any promises? We hope, we want to see our kids turn out for God. We need your help. God, are there promises that we could grab hold of as parents? Let me just share a few this morning. First promise, you can direct your children on the path of life. You can direct your children on the path of life. Proverbs 22 verse 6 says, train up a child in the way he should go. And when he is old, he will not depart from it. God says, get them on that path, train them up. That idea of training is something that I want to do with some trees that I planted in my back garden. They're kind of a willow tree. Actually, the way we planted them was a willow branch stuck down the ground. I didn't know that would work. I'm going to write a cutting. Alec, I know you do it all the time, but it's kind of new to me to take a cutting and just stick it in the ground. It's amazing to see it leaf and grow. But as it grows, When it's supple, I want to take those branches. I want to train them. And I want to kind of knit it together to make a little hedge that's in her back garden. But if I wait till that plant is fully grown, if I was strong enough to bend them, I would break it. And so the idea is, training of a child, that we start as soon as possible working in the life of that child and teaching them. You know, we ought to be teaching our kids to love the Lord. Teach them to love church. Hey, we get to go to church today. It's great. It's Sunday. You know, that's what we do on Sunday. We get there, we honor God, we please God. This is great that we get to go to church. It's great to read our Bibles. As a little kid, you know, we love our Bibles. And it's the Word of God to us. And begin to put that into the heart that this is from God and this teaches us about God. And again, that process of bending those moldable branches towards God. Love will bend God. Love giving to God. I teach my kids, I've said before, we teach our kids to tithe from the time they're weak, you know, that they give something to God. So that, I mean, that's just part of their life. They grow up, they don't ever have to ask the question, do I tithe or not? They start tithing when they're pre-understanding what money was they gave to God. So again, that process. The best time to train our kids is while they're young. Proverbs 19 verse 18 says, God says, don't give up on it. Don't quit. It's possible. Point him in the right direction. Train up a child while there is hope. Don't wait until that child's 18 and stepping out of the house and you look back and say, I wish I had. Start as young as possible and say, by the grace of God, I'm going to teach this son, this daughter to love God, to obey God, to please God. And I'm going to put those things into their life. Why? Because God says that if I train him a child in the way he should grow, when he's old he'll not depart from it. And God, I'm going to claim that. I'm not a perfect parent, and we're not a perfect family, but by the grace of God, I'm going to do my best to impact this child for God, so I am directing them towards success for God. You can direct your children on the path of life. Second promise, you can direct your children in the path of strength. Psalm 112, verse one, in the path of strength. It says, praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon earth. The generation of the upright shall be blessed. I read that verse too this past week in my devotions or something. I came upon that verse and I thought, what a promise. His seed shall be mighty upon the earth. The generation of the upright shall be blessed. I mean, that's a great promise to me as a parent saying, you know, I desire that. I want to raise Godly young people that love God, that are strong for God. I want to do that. But I've got to go back to verse 1 and see what verse 1 said. Verse 1 said, Praise ye the Lord. Blessed are the happiest of men that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his name. See, the promise is to somebody that has a big heart for God. and a fear of God, obedience to God. There's a friend of ours that's with our mission agency. His name is Dr. Tom Johnson. When the tsunami hit Sri Lanka about, I think, a dozen years ago, maybe just a little bit more than that, the area was devastated. And he went in as a medical missionary and with a team. The area of Sri Lanka is very Muslim, OK? And they got into an area, and they had a crowd surround their vehicle, beating on the vehicle. and they wanted to kill them, and they believed that they were going to die, basically. And in the car, Dr. Tom Johnson says, in slow motion, his mind's thinking, he thinks about the verse, Do you know the question that was in his heart is this? Do I really fear God? He's a godly man, loves the Lord. I mean, this man has a powerful prayer life. I love Dr. Tom Johnson. He's kind of a nut. He's just a very real guy. He was a medical doctor that God called into missions. He's just himself. But he loves God. But he asked himself the question, do I really fear God? It's a really incredible story. He said, God sent his angels in SWAT gear, alright? And these guys came in, military or police, got around the vehicle, the guy jumped in and reversed them out of the mob, and God scared them, okay? And it is a very neat story of angelic, literally, protection in that situation. But that's what we've got to come to. I mean, I desire this. God, I want that promise. Verse 2, His seed shall be mighty upon the earth. The generation of the upright shall be blessed. But we look at, even in verse 2, the generation of the upright. There's a saying, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. It's very interesting to think about. This could be good or bad. If I'm a godly parent and I'm really seeking to raise a godly seed by the grace of God, if that is a true statement, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, by God's grace, if I'm godly, I can anticipate, by God's grace, my kids being godly. But if my life is messed up with sin, and I don't really fear God, and I'm not living my life circumspectly, I cannot grab a hold of this and the sad reality may be that there's going to be things in my children's life that are magnifications of the things that are in my life. As a youth pastor with a young family, and we're praying about parenting and trying to figure it out as we work with the youth at our church, I remember looking at our young people and saying, you know what? What I see in your life is an amplification of what I see in your parents' life. And Katie and I would talk amongst ourselves and say, let's remember this and pray, God, I remember this even today and say, dear God, help me to look at my life and say, what is there in my life that if amplified in my kid's life would hurt them? God, don't let that into my life. Matthew 7, verse 3. says, why beholdest thou the molt that's in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the bean that's in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the molt out of thine eye, and behold a bean is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the bean out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the molt out of thy brother's eye. God, help us from being a parent that influences our kids to evil. God, give us grace to say, by grace, I want to be so circumspect about my life that there is nothing in my life that can corrupt or hurt my children. God, please do that. Our confidence is we can succeed in raising children that will be strong, that our seed will be blessed of God. And then you can direct your children to stand for God. Psalm 127 verse 3 says, Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of his womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. All right? Not be ashamed. That means that the gate was the place where the business of the city took place, that a godly man's or a mighty man's children would stand in the gate, that they'd have a position of prominence that could deal with the enemy and stand unashamed before the enemy. If the enemy accused or the enemy attacked, they would have that which was necessary to stand against them. And so, half is the man and half is the quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemy in the gate. At camp, we enjoyed shooting our bows that were there, those guys that were there at camp, and maybe missed my compound bow back in the States. I was a bow hunter in the States. My compound bow has a kisser button, it has a peak sight, and you look through that, and you've got your target, you line it up. You know, every time you picked it up and let it fly, I didn't wonder if I was going to hit the target. It's something I did all the time. I knew I was going to hit the target, as long as I had control of that bow. And God says, by the grace that He gives as parents, we can be confident that we're going to pick this up for God. We're going to fight this battle and we can hit the target. We can trust God to give us grace to raise children that will stand for God. And so how do I do that? How do I do that? Well, we need to get God's battle plan, okay? So first thing is that we need to pray. Second thing, is that we need to get a promise. The third thing is we need to get God's battle plan. So what's the battle plan? How do we go about it? We need to instruct, first of all, our children. Deuteronomy 11, verse 18. It says, Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them, when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thine house, and upon thy gates. That your days may be multiplied, the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon earth." Okay? In that verse, and I caught it as I read it, God's given a great promise. He said that your days may be long, that your children's days may be long, in the land, I'm gonna bless you, I'm gonna prosper you. So there is another promise that God has given, but God says, hey, what you need to do is know my word, understand my word, and instruct my word. Have it there in your house, teaching them to your children. Another thing that I realized in youth ministry is that sometimes parents trusted that the spiritual instruction of their kids was the church's responsibility. You know, if you ask us, and I mean, I'm talking godly people, you know, people that go to church, people that are faithful to church. If you were to ask them as they went out, do you have family devotions in your house? You know, do you read the Bible with your children? Do you teach Bible verses to your children? Do you sing as a family, sing hymns? What religious instruction are you doing at home? Sadly, and I don't know this as a fact, but sadly I think there would be many families that would say, you haven't dropped the ball. Well listen, another thing I realized as a youth pastor is if the parents can't raise godly kids, I can. I can't. As a matter of fact, I'm burdened by it. I want to see my kids go on for God. In that case, I had about 20-25 children, young people in my youth group, and my desire was to see them get on fire for God. Listen, if the parents couldn't get them there, I couldn't. I couldn't. Why? Because God's plan is not for the church to raise godly children. God's plan is for godly families in the church to raise godly children. So I say, if I want God's plan, I'm saying, God, the battle is there, I'm praying, I'm asking God, help me win the battle, and I get a promise from God, God can do this, God can help you do this. But if I never implement steps in my home to say, you know what, we're going to be a godly family, so we're going to study God's word together, it's not going to happen. It won't. And so I gotta get in there and give that spiritual instruction. Timothy, Paul's son of the faith. You know, Paul rejoiced in the spiritual upbringing of Timothy. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 1 verse 5, when I call to remember, it's the unfamed faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice. And I'm persuaded that in thee also. Timothy's dad may not have been a saved man. But hey, Grandma was godly. Hey, Mama was godly. And Timothy was godly. Praise God. Why? He had a spiritual upbringing in his home that nurtured him. 2 Timothy 3, verse 15, Paul said, And that from a child thou wouldst know the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. That from a child, where? The synagogue? No. Godly parents, mom, grandma, that cared about you, brought you up in that understanding. So we've got to start there. This is simple. These battle plans are very simple. They're practical. I mean, you can look at it and you can check your list next week and say, did I implement that? And you can say yes or no. Do you have devotions? Let me just give you some ideas. Read the Bible together. I mean, that's simple, isn't it? Kids can understand the Bible. Choose a book that is stories, if they're weak. Read through the Gospels. As they get older, they should begin to read other things. They get better to talk about it as a family. We, as our family, we have family devotions in the morning, and we have family devotions in the evening. In the morning, we read scripture. Right now, we're reading, actually, through 2 Samuel, or 1 Samuel. Then we memorize verses together. And my wife has a verse box. And if you ladies want to talk to my wife about it, it's a box that has like 25 or 30 verses in it. And there's a method that we use that she knows that I don't know. But she's switching them. So that we learn a verse for a week, and then that verse is reviewed once a week, and then it's reviewed maybe a couple times a year. It somehow gets into a system, a daily system, where we're memorizing scripture. We'll sing a chorus, even though the kids don't love singing in the morning. It might take them to the second phrase to get involved. But we sing something. At night, sometimes what we've done is listen to an audiobook, a biography. And there's great ones that you can get online. We're right now listening to the story of Brother Andrew and how God worked in his life. That's good. You know, there's all sorts of things we could do, but we need to have that time where we're impacting, engaging in spiritual conversations with our kids. Second, correct your children. Proverbs 22 verse 15. Says foolishness is down in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from them We live in a day that says don't don't discipline. In fact, not only do not discipline. There's legislation against some discipline. Okay But God says discipline And the Word of God says that child is not an angel, that child got a good heart, that child has a sin nature. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child. If you doubt that, go with me tomorrow or Tuesday night to the council meeting in Lone Head and listen to the police report and ask the question, how much of this is about youth crime? It's like 75%. It's about the youth and problems with the youth and what's taking place. I met a man in Bigger, Alec. He was out working his garden, 83 years old. Very nice guy. Gave me some of his flowers, all right? I said, those are nice. I'd like to have those in my garden. Here, have some. He dug some up for me. I came back and got them later. But I was talking to Alec, and Alec said, and we're talking about he's working. He's 83. He's out working his garden. I said, some of these younger people need to do this. And we're talking about this generation is rebellious, doesn't know how to work, And you know what he said? This is what he said, as far as I know, an unsaved man. He said, my father gave me the strap. You got it once, you didn't want it again. You know he wasn't bitter about that? He wasn't saying my dad abused me. He was saying, you know, if he could say it as we say it as believers, I praise God that my dad cared enough about me to correct me. Praise God. This generation doesn't know this truth about correction. You know we're responsible to stop our children in paths of folly? As a parent, that is our responsibility. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 3 verse 13, For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth, because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. If you read the story, he talked to him about it and said, why are you doing this? This is bad. But he did not stop them. And he could have, God said. And so I've got a great responsibility for God, that I've got to answer to God and say, God, did I do my best to stop that behavior? And so discipline your children. And then nurture your children. Ephesians 6 verse 4. It says in your fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of war. It's loving care is what it is. Nurture them. Wrath and abuse, that's not going to do it. That's not parenting. The Bible's never spoken favorably of abuse. But the Bible does speak about being a godly corrector and a nurturer. And you're probably going to hear me say this one too many times this summer, but I'm enjoying nurturing my garden. I love it, getting out there. It's starting to grow. We're going to have to have the church back over to see the plants. They're coming on and stuff. Kaylee's helping me with that. Last night she's out there with Miracle-Gro. And we learned something. The soil that we got last year that we thought was good soil, Needs more. Alright? Last year my plants didn't grow. This year they're growing. Because we're nurturing them. And we're giving them what they need. The nutrition that they need. And you know what? Every now and then I gotta take the snips. And I gotta snip off the dead stuff. And if the plant could feel, I suppose it might be painful. But it's for the good of the plant. It's gonna benefit the plant. And that's that loving care that we give. You know, God does that in our lives, doesn't he? John 15 verse 1. I am the true vine, and my Father is the husband, and every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. God says that you're a part of the buying, you're a branch in the buying, that God comes along and he sniffs some stuff. And then it says this, now you are clean through the words which I have spoken unto you. What is that? That's the purification God corrected us. I'm gonna get that right. So that you could prosper. And so that's, we gotta give that loving care. And we'll talk about it here in the next point, okay? We gotta give that to them. That sanctifies them, they need that. That's God's plan. So what do I need to do? Stir yourself up to the battle, okay? And let me just say it like this. You have to parent to win the battle. If I could use it like a verb, all right? You have to parent to win the battle. God has not called us to be our child's buddy. He's not. I mean, God has not called us to be our child's equal, because we're not. He's not called us to be the child's grandparents. Someday we're going to enjoy that, okay? That's not it. We're not grandparents, we're parents. And so I have to parent. That's what God called me to do. And so, what's the Bible say? The Bible says if I neglect to take the responsibility as a parent, it's not just I'm going to lose the battle. God says this, I hate my child. That's what God says. Proverbs 12, or 13 verse point 4. says he that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth them betimes. Now, you gotta pray about this, take this to God, the way you discipline your children physically. God says if you don't do it, you hate your child. There's no other way to look at that scripture and say, well, in this day, pastor, that's not politically correct, or even, boy, I mean, it almost gets close to breaking the law, they're trying to legislate no smacking. Listen, they're against God, and everything to do with God. Godly parents gotta have to pray about it and say, you know what, I'm gonna honor God, I'm gonna honor government. But when it's a question between honoring government or honoring God, I honor God. And again, lovingly and wisely, wisely, but doing that to God's glory. And children, you might think, well, Mom and Dad hate me. No, the Bible says this, if your parents discipline you, you gotta get on your knees and thank God and say, I know my Mom and Dad love me. Because they correct me. Because that's what God does, doesn't he? The Bible says, For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye illegitimate, not sons. If you're here today and you think, Pastor, I can sin, it doesn't bother me, and I got that in my life, it doesn't bother me. Listen, if you can stay in that, you know it's wrong, you know it's against God, and you can stay in it, you're not convicted about it, you're not bothered about it, you feel no chastening from God, guess what the Bible says? You profess faith in Christ, but you have not become a child of God. Because if you were, God and His love would not let you continue on that path. Okay? And so, as a godly parent that wants to be like a loving God, I've got to look at my kids and say, you know what? Not in this house. No. We're going to honor God in this home. I gotta screw myself up to it. So what do I need to do? I gotta parent when it's inconvenient. You ever notice that the parenting times don't take place at a really convenient time? Right? But I gotta parent when it's inconvenient. I need to parent when it's unpopular with the world or my kids. I gotta parent when it seems like it isn't working. I've had people tell me, pastor, discipline doesn't work. Well, God says it does. Just keep going. Don't quit. Let not thy soul's fear for us grind. Just continue to be faithful. Trust God and prove your love for your children. And then lastly, this morning, the fifth thing David did is destroy all that pertains to the enemy. The Stronger Family Center is coming out. We've had two other ones, I think, in the last three years with Pastor David Orr-Warman. But I like Pastor Orr-Warman. He'll come and he'll say, hey, your house is your oasis. The world's got all these things going on, but that place is a place where it can be special. It can be different. Because that's not there, that's not there, that's not there, that's not there, right? That's what we ought to have. As parents, we ought to have this place where kids can get in there. It's secure. The world is not there, not attacking them there. They are protected there. That ought to be our desire. And so what? I've got to destroy everything that could possibly destroy my kids. Right? I'm praying. I'm saying, God, help me win the battle of parenting. But I've got access to pornography in my house. I've got access to wicked music in my house. I've got access to wrong friends. I've got access to all these things. I've got to cut it off. Like I said, not in this house. You're gonna be safe in this environment. Why? Because I'm gonna do my best. If my kids rebel from God, I wanna be able to go to God and say, God, I did everything in my power to protect them. And God, I'm trusting you, please don't ever let that happen. But if my kids rebelled against God, I want to be able to look back and say, I did everything I could. I got rid of everything I could. And so what is that? Tele, mobile, apps, music, movies, computer, posters, books, CDs, DVDs, activities, friends, education. Right? As a parent, it is my responsibility. I'll give an account to God. And I can't say to God, but God, that was their thing. That was their stuff. God will say to me, you allowed it, you gave it. Right? Cut it off. Listen, even if we had to back up the clock with a teenager and say, sorry, that's the way we've allowed it to be, but we're going to stop that now because I want to honor God. And by God's grace, I got to take that stand. Because I'll get an account before God. And then the things, just getting my kids where they need to be. And so this morning, we're in a battle. It's a huge battle. It's going to impact our church. It is. The greatest thing that we can have in a pre-baptist church is, hey, praise God, we've got a godly family that are involved with their kids, burdened about raising a godly seed. And we're praying about it as a church. Let's pray about it for one another and ask God, God, help us to reach these kids. But as we pray, let's get a promise from God and say, you know what? I can succeed. I know there's stories of failure. And that's between that person and the Lord. And I'm going to pray for their family. I'm going to pray for the kids to come back to God, right? That's our burden. But as for me and my house, my burden is to see my kids live for God. I'm going to get a promise. And so, I'm going to get God's plan. God, how do I do this? How do I go about this? Then I'm going to stir myself up and say, God, I'm going to do it. I'm going to have devotions. I'm going to get rid of that junk. I'm going to discipline my kids. And I'm going to destroy everything that pertains to the enemy. Because God, by your grace, I'm going to win this battle. Alright? Let's do that as a church. Let's pray. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would take this message and put it into our hearts. And Father, I just ask that as parents we bow before you right now, and this message is primarily to parents, because it's good for kids too to think about the good protections they've got to put in their lives and that we want to put in their lives as a church and help them. But Father, it might be something specific that you're speaking to a parent's heart about. And Father, as we bow before you in the quietness of a moment that we're going to have, I just pray, Lord, help us to do business with God. We've got to make decisions, Lord. It's in vain to come to church and hear preaching on the family and think, well, that's okay, I'm just going to stay the way I am. Father, the only benefit is if we stop right now and say, what does God want me to change? Because I need to win this battle. And so I just pray, Father, speak to our hearts as we just babble for you. I pray, God, help us to do business with you. Father, I trust that in some hearts here today, there's been decisions made about what is going to change, what needs to change. Mom and Dad need to talk to each other and say, you know what, there's some things that we need to apply. And Father, I pray, and I preached long this morning, but Lord, I'd preach another hour if it would save some kids the heartache of growing up in a home that didn't look like this battle and rescue them. And Father, I hope the parents would agree with me. That would be a good thing if we just focused more on it. Because we need it. And so I pray, Spirit of God, take the truth, drive it deep into our hearts. Give us grace to make those decisions that honor Jesus Christ in our homes. It's in Christ that we pray. Amen. Amen. Let's stand, please, and sing, Lord, bless our home. Sing it as a prayer. This morning, 553. 553. You know, we do favorites sometimes. Every time I see this, I think about a young lady that came to our church. She got saved here, but she wasn't in a good home. And she requested this. And, you know, she doesn't have a good home, but we can have good homes. And you've got to help us to do that. 553. Fairies all around us are wobbly.