1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,840 And we get to study in Ephesians Chapter 6. 2 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,840 And I'm going to call this part one because I don't think I'm 3 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:10,160 going to make it through maybe 1/3 of the chapter today. 4 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:14,080 We're not going to cover a ton, but as I started to study this 5 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:18,080 more and try to dive into it and bring out the beauty in God's 6 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:21,800 word, I kind of got slowed down in just a few verses. 7 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:25,680 Because there's a lot here that we can talk about with regard to 8 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:31,240 honouring parents and ultimately maybe getting too into how we 9 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:34,760 are to work for our bosses, we as bond servants, things like 10 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:36,720 that. So we may not even get to the 11 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:40,640 second-half year of the goals. Today we may just focus on the 12 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:44,040 parents alone depending on how time and technology permits. 13 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:46,640 So if you're going to turn there, we're in Ephesians 14 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:50,560 Chapter 6, a quick refresher to get us reminded of where we're 15 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:52,920 at in this book. This book has a purpose of 16 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:56,760 reminding Christians other spiritual blessings in Christ. 17 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:00,640 So the first three chapters of this book, Paul is telling them 18 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:04,239 all these wonderful things they have to look forward to, all 19 00:01:04,239 --> 00:01:07,560 these wonderful things they have to enjoy as Christians. 20 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:11,000 And because of that, we're now in the section of the chapter 21 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,600 where he's calling them to respond to that. 22 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:18,160 Because you have such a great set of spiritual blessings. 23 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:22,400 Because he sets you on on in the heavenly places with Christ. 24 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:25,680 Because he has called you and giving you purpose that is so 25 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:28,800 great, that is from the Father, from the Son, from the Spirit, 26 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:32,680 that we are raised and seated on the throne and reconciled into 27 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:35,160 the temple. Because of all these things he 28 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:40,120 wants us to walk as imitators of God, to not walk like the 29 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:42,920 Gentiles walk, but to walk in harmony. 30 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:46,160 And we're in this section with where he's discussing submission 31 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:50,080 and how Christians our attitude is to be submissive and being 32 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:54,120 willing to put the other's interest ahead of ourselves and 33 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:56,760 to serve other people instead of just always serving our own 34 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:00,040 selfish desires, our own selfish needs. 35 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:04,040 And we're in this section now, Ephesians 6, talking about 36 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,160 submission that's required with parents and children and 37 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:13,080 ultimately masters and servants. So just a couple, just a verse 38 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:15,480 to kind of lead us in from the last chapter. 39 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:20,360 We were in chapter 5, verse 33, where it said, nevertheless, let 40 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:25,320 each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself and 41 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:27,840 let the wife see that she respects her husband. 42 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:31,400 So we talked about the submission and the love and the 43 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:35,000 the relationship that exists between the husband and wife 44 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:37,880 last time. And now he's moving on to 45 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:40,160 another relationship that exists. 46 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:44,720 And the first one we're going to talk about today is children, 47 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:49,360 Obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right disclaimer. 48 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:52,480 I probably would not have talked chosen to talk about marriage, 49 00:02:52,640 --> 00:02:55,440 chosen to talk about parenting when I am completely a novice. 50 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:58,200 But the word is let us here, so I don't want to skip over it. 51 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:02,200 So I'll be looking forward to seeing your guidance, your 52 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:05,640 wisdom, and your advice as I try to apply these principles, 53 00:03:05,640 --> 00:03:08,480 because most of you in this room have way more experience than I 54 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:11,920 do. Children, obey your parents in 55 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:15,400 the Lord, for this is right. First of all, what is obedience 56 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:18,000 really? Obedience is just a form of 57 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:20,040 submission. We've talked about submission 58 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:23,080 these last several weeks. Submission is saying I'm going 59 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:28,160 to put what you are saying above my own desires, my own will, my 60 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:31,160 own. Think so's and obedience is 61 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:34,440 really the foundation of everything we do as followers of 62 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:37,840 God. Children are perfect examples of 63 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:42,240 what we as Christians should be toward God because we ask 64 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:47,200 children to obey as they should. But we ask children to obey 65 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:49,880 largely because we know that we have their best interests at 66 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:52,640 heart. We're not asking kids to do 67 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:54,560 things and obey things. They're going to harm them. 68 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:58,320 We ultimately have their best interest and may we understand 69 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:02,000 ourselves in light of this perspective with God. 70 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:06,040 God tells us things and we go, I don't want to do, I don't want 71 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:07,960 to do that. And we we push back. 72 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:11,800 We fight against his will, but he, he always has what's best 73 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:15,040 for us at heart. We serve a good God and we can 74 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:17,760 be thankful that he's not pushing us to do things that are 75 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:20,120 really not again our best interest. 76 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:26,000 So children are to understand or to obey, and maybe later 77 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:28,400 understanding will come. Hopefully they will understand 78 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:30,960 later. But obedience doesn't have to 79 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:32,720 mean children always understand why. 80 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:36,600 Most of the times kids don't have the perspective, as parents 81 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:39,200 say, you know things like if only they understood why I'm 82 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:40,880 asking this, they would listen to me. 83 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:45,320 If only they understood. Don't we say the same thing? 84 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:48,800 Or couldn't God say the same thing about us individually in 85 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:52,560 our personal lives? Obedience acknowledges we don't 86 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:56,280 have to have all the answers to do right. 87 00:04:56,320 --> 00:05:01,480 Obedience allows faith to have an impact in the life of a child 88 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:03,600 as they have faith in the guidance of the parent. 89 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:08,080 And obedience with ourselves to God allows us to have faith that 90 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:10,880 we don't always know what's right in our own mind, but we 91 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:15,520 can trust in Him and it allows us to have faith in Him. 92 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:18,560 So it says ultimately bring it back to kids. 93 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:21,000 Children are to obey their parents in the Lord. 94 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:23,640 Now, different people have perspectives on what this in the 95 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:26,520 Lord means. Some of them say, you know what 96 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:30,680 means, that as long as they are giving you things to do that are 97 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:32,600 approved by the Lord, then do it. 98 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:36,480 And that's absolutely true. We should only have or expect 99 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:41,400 children to follow their parents in things that would not be 100 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:45,040 against God's will. So that's a that's a broad 101 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:48,880 umbrella concept. This reminds us primarily where 102 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:53,520 the real headship is God and our and our and our Lord are are 103 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:56,440 over all of this guidance to where no matter what the head 104 00:05:56,440 --> 00:06:00,440 directly above you says, if it goes against what God says, then 105 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:04,920 you always defer to God. And others might say, well, this 106 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:07,800 applies to specifically Christians. 107 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:10,520 So if their parents are Christians, but I don't 108 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:13,080 necessarily agree with that. I think children have a 109 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:16,360 responsibility, especially until they reach an age where they're 110 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:19,800 out of the house, to be deferring and obeying parents 111 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:24,480 because that is God's designed order of authority. 112 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:29,080 And we're going to talk about that concept more here going 113 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:32,760 into verse 2. Verse two says honor your father 114 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:35,600 and mother. So before we get into this, and 115 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:39,800 where this concept of honoring is kind of brought out even 116 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:41,960 more, I want to talk about honour as a whole. 117 00:06:43,000 --> 00:06:46,960 We as a culture have not done a good job with honour. 118 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:50,520 You look at other societies, we may have our criticisms of other 119 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:53,320 cultures and they we might say they're too strict, or they're 120 00:06:53,320 --> 00:06:56,080 too this or that or whatever, because we as Americans think 121 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:57,800 everybody can do whatever they want all the time because 122 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:00,800 they're an American. We might look at other cultures 123 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:04,480 and see their example of how well they've done with honouring 124 00:07:04,840 --> 00:07:09,000 their ancestors, honouring their parents, But we haven't done a 125 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:12,360 very good job of that. And I was reading in my in my 126 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:15,920 daily reading in the book of Romans and Romans has this to 127 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:19,840 say about the concept of honor and where it leads. 128 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:24,360 Romans one, verse 20 says for his Speaking of God, for his 129 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:28,680 invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine 130 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:33,040 nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the 131 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:36,520 creation of the world in the things that have been made so 132 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:40,280 that they are without excuse. What he's saying here is God has 133 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:42,480 beautiful attributes. Just look around you. 134 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:46,440 We have no excuse. Nobody has an excuse for well, I 135 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:50,480 didn't know God existed. Look around, he says. 136 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:53,200 Since the foundation of the world that's been the case, 137 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:58,320 they're without excuse for although they knew God, he's 138 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:01,600 saying it was past tense. Maybe it was our ancestors or 139 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:04,000 history of people. They knew God more closely in a 140 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:06,000 generation. Or maybe it's us. 141 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:10,280 Individually, we all are given an innate awareness of God. 142 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:11,880 God. The Bible says he has put 143 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:16,120 eternity in their hearts that we should grope for him, so we know 144 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:19,560 we have known. He says for all though they knew 145 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:25,240 God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. 146 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:30,040 So this is the root of so many problems, not honoring God and 147 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:33,720 not giving thanks to them. But instead they became futile 148 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:37,520 or empty or worthless in their thinking and their foolish 149 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:41,280 hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise. 150 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:45,760 They became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God. 151 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:50,480 So he goes on a little bit later and he says, therefore God gave 152 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:54,600 them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the 153 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:57,920 dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they 154 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:00,480 exchanged the truth about God for a lie. 155 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:03,600 What are we taking from this section of Romans? 156 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:07,400 Romans is reminding them where honor needed to start. 157 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:11,920 And The funny thing is, when they failed to honor God and 158 00:09:11,920 --> 00:09:16,080 they did not glorify him as God, they in turn dishonored 159 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:19,960 themselves. They dishonored their bodies. 160 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:22,280 They just we turned to dishonor ourselves. 161 00:09:23,160 --> 00:09:26,760 And it's funny, today the most common thing you hear, like 162 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:30,520 mental health is just love yourself, do yourself, just do 163 00:09:30,680 --> 00:09:34,440 good for yourself. And it's like people are trying 164 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:38,640 to shortcut their way to a system of honor that's supposed 165 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:43,040 to embody itself in our lives. God wants there to be honor for 166 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:45,000 him. He wants there to be honor for 167 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,520 authorities and even wants us to be honored. 168 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:51,960 But when we don't honor God, a byproduct is we will be 169 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:55,520 dishonored. So then what's the solution? 170 00:09:56,120 --> 00:10:00,080 We start with honoring God and glorifying him as God. 171 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:02,680 This is kind of the reverse as of Romans chapter one. 172 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:06,160 Then we honor authorities. That's part of this system of 173 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:08,960 respect and honor and a byproduct. 174 00:10:09,560 --> 00:10:14,200 If we are dishonored when we don't honor God and we we we 175 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:19,240 divulge into sin, then we by byproduct of honoring God. 176 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:22,480 We are honored in the sense that's not why we do this. 177 00:10:22,640 --> 00:10:26,160 We live for the glory of God, but a byproduct of that is we 178 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:29,480 will be honored. So may we avoid trying to 179 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:33,320 shortcut this whole system and say, I just got to honor myself, 180 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:37,520 I got to love myself, I got to make myself on this pedestal 181 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:42,640 because it won't work. This cycle will fall dead flat 182 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:47,040 if we start at the wrong place. OK, now the purpose of where 183 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:49,520 this is really going in the passage, he says honor your 184 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:54,280 father and mother. Honor means to hold in great 185 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:57,920 respect or to value or to hold in high regard. 186 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:01,440 For some people this may be easier than others. 187 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:03,920 May be a relationship you have with your parent or your 188 00:11:03,920 --> 00:11:05,600 parents. Interaction with you may have 189 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:09,360 made this an easier thing. Not everybody has an easy task 190 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:14,720 at this, but he doesn't say certain people whose parents 191 00:11:14,720 --> 00:11:17,800 deserve honor. He says honor your father and 192 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:19,400 mother. Why? 193 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:25,600 Why could this be a broad command in the 1st place #1? 194 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:29,840 I think it's might be sacrifice. God has ordained a system in 195 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:33,200 which we have to learn to be selfless at some point. 196 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:37,320 If you have kids now, that's the goal of our Christian walk has 197 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:40,920 become more and more or less filled with our self and to fill 198 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:43,000 it with others and fill it with serving God. 199 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:48,680 But the parents in relationship requires you to sacrifice of 200 00:11:48,680 --> 00:11:51,480 yourself and God wants that to be honored. 201 00:11:52,680 --> 00:11:55,840 There's pain involved. We should honor parents because 202 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:58,400 the pain they go through, especially the mother. 203 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:02,280 I've seen 10 months of brutal brutal pain. 204 00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:04,960 Now that I've I've seen Taylor go through that they should be 205 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:08,440 honored for the pain that they go through for the selfless 206 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:10,960 service. Like we already said, putting 207 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:13,400 self down. Whether you're a Christian or 208 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:16,520 not, most parents do this on some level of another. 209 00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:20,120 They need to be honored for that, for their commitment to 210 00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:23,680 something good and pure, because it's the natural order. 211 00:12:23,680 --> 00:12:26,320 They should be honored because God set a natural order of 212 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:30,080 authority in place and because it is completely wholesome. 213 00:12:30,960 --> 00:12:35,320 There's a lot of things that we do or that our world does that 214 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:37,240 are not wholesome and kind of a waste of time. 215 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:42,000 Parenting is so cool because there is, it's so wholesome. 216 00:12:42,280 --> 00:12:44,800 There is nothing wrong with anybody going on bringing a 217 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:46,360 beautiful new child into the world. 218 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:50,440 That's a wonderful thing. And so that's why I believe God 219 00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:54,080 wants the children to honor their parents. 220 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:57,560 Because of these many reasons and and more, you might say. 221 00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:02,120 And even today may we honor our parents. 222 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:06,800 Maybe you're not a child per SE. Maybe you're not in their the 223 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:08,520 household of your parents anymore. 224 00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:11,600 Maybe you don't live with them. And you know, like, maybe this 225 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:13,800 doesn't apply to me. I just need to be getting honor 226 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:17,320 from somebody else. This applies to us in every 227 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:19,920 stage of our life. May we honor our parents. 228 00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:25,120 And here's why Jesus took a big issue with this when it wasn't 229 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:28,480 carried out by older people. We've talked about children 230 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:31,320 obeying their parents, but even adults need to do something for 231 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:33,960 their parents. In Mark Chapter 7, verse 9, 232 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:38,480 Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and he's criticizing 233 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:44,120 them for the way they have thrown God's will to the side 234 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:47,000 for their own traditions. And here's what he says he said 235 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:52,280 to them all too well, or another translation says so nicely. 236 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:55,720 You reject the commandment of God that you may keep your 237 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:57,760 tradition. And here's here's what he's 238 00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:01,440 talking about for Moses said honor your father and mother, 239 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:05,240 and he who curses father and mother let him be put to death, 240 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:07,080 he said. That's what God said. 241 00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:10,800 God said you should honor them and it's death as the 242 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:13,400 consequence. If he responds in the opposite 243 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:17,520 way, but you say he's talking to the Jews, but you say, if a man 244 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:20,320 says to his father and mother whatever profit you might have 245 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:25,280 received from me is Qorban, that is a gift from God, then you no 246 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:27,520 longer let him do anything for his father and mother. 247 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:31,360 Making the word of God of no effect through your tradition, 248 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:35,000 which you have handed down and many such things you do. 249 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:37,600 What's he talking about? He's talking about they would 250 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:39,800 have this thing where they're like my property, my house, it's 251 00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:42,240 all for the Lord. Everything I have is the Lord, 252 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:45,720 this core bond. Therefore, you don't have to 253 00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:48,240 take care of your parents because it's all for the Lord. 254 00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:51,560 It's it's frilly, it's fluffy. It's not practical. 255 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:55,120 He's like you've you've neglected your parents, your 256 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:58,360 elderly parents who need support in their older years. 257 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:01,840 You make God's word empty. It doesn't do anything. 258 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:04,960 It has no practical use if you're going to throw away your 259 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:08,160 responsibility to the people around you and say, oh, it's for 260 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:13,200 God through your tradition, which you've handed down and 261 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:16,760 many things such you do. That's why it's so important 262 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:20,920 that at any stage in our life, we honor our father and mother 263 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:25,120 and take care of them and respect them and show value and 264 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:28,800 and and value what they've brought to us, value what they 265 00:15:28,800 --> 00:15:33,560 bring in their role. Now I want to kind of zoom in on 266 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:36,440 this other part. It says, which is the first 267 00:15:36,440 --> 00:15:39,640 commandment with promise. So he's taking it back to the 268 00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:42,680 Old Testament reference we've already alluded to, the Old 269 00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:45,760 Testament being the, you know, the 10 commandments. 270 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:48,120 This was the first one he says with promise. 271 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:51,880 Now, from what I was reading from commentators, this is 272 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:54,520 obviously not the first commandment made in numerical 273 00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:56,880 order. There's a list of them. 274 00:15:56,880 --> 00:16:01,880 This is not the very first one. And it also it seems to not be 275 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:04,720 the first one that even had a promise attached to it. 276 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:07,520 And we're going to read what the promise is. 277 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:09,240 He says honor your father and mother. 278 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:11,840 And the promise is there's this thing coming. 279 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:16,040 But there's many commentators that would say, well, there are 280 00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:18,600 other commandments that had promises before that. 281 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:25,360 So whether you think it's that answer or whether you don't, I 282 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:28,360 think it's true. Regardless, the concept stands. 283 00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:31,720 There was a promise attached to this command. 284 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:34,400 That is wonderful. But I think a good solution to 285 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:39,880 all of these quandaries or whatever you bring up, is this 286 00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:45,040 is the first commandment that we have a chance to obey as humans, 287 00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:50,520 as Christians, your first thing you have a chance to do, there's 288 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:53,200 a promise attached to it as you got to obey your parents. 289 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:56,920 So I think that's what he's kind of referring to when he says 290 00:16:56,920 --> 00:16:58,280 it's the first commandment of promise. 291 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:00,920 But either way, there's a promise attached to it. 292 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:11,000 But the concept is that they will be well with you and you 293 00:17:11,000 --> 00:17:15,480 may live long on the earth. God's intention for parenting 294 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:20,160 and for obeying the parents is that we would have a long life 295 00:17:20,839 --> 00:17:22,800 and a long and happy and good life. 296 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:24,640 That's ultimately God's will for us. 297 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:29,520 But this phrase long on the earth, as Frank is alluded to in 298 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:33,480 the Sermon on the Mount, it also could be translated in the land. 299 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:36,040 And they were preparing to enter the promised land. 300 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:39,480 These were Jews getting the command from God to do these 301 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:42,360 things, and he's leading them into a good land that would flow 302 00:17:42,360 --> 00:17:43,840 with milk and honey and all this stuff. 303 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:45,840 And he wanted them to enjoy that. 304 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:48,880 He wanted them to enjoy the blessings of this land they were 305 00:17:48,880 --> 00:17:51,880 coming to. But they couldn't do that unless 306 00:17:51,880 --> 00:17:55,520 they started by obeying, obeying parents and appreciating and 307 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:58,080 honoring them for what they had to give and lead. 308 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:02,880 God wants us to enjoy many blessings and good things in 309 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:05,920 this life. Proverbs 3 verse one and two 310 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:11,000 says hear my son and accept my sayings and the years of your 311 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:15,480 life will be many. Proverbs 13 Verse 15 says 312 00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:18,440 basically the sinful life is hard, the way of the ungodly is 313 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:21,800 difficult. And that's definitely true in 314 00:18:21,800 --> 00:18:24,480 many senses. The physical, the emotional, the 315 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:28,280 spiritual stresses that sin puts in our lives. 316 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:33,560 It makes our lives harder. And a lot of times people talk 317 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:35,600 about, you know, like there's people out there living sinful 318 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:37,200 lives. Look how hard it is on them. 319 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:41,400 Well, what about us? What about the sin that my life 320 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:45,040 has brought difficulty with? What The sins in my life, The 321 00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:48,280 things that I've done even this week, that have brought hardship 322 00:18:48,280 --> 00:18:54,040 to my my own life, to my family. Sin makes our lives harder. 323 00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:59,440 Maybe we follow the wisdom that comes from a wise parents and 324 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:04,520 godly guidance, and I'd recognize sin's influence even 325 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:09,040 on our own life because we've sinned plenty and it only has 326 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:11,240 ever brought us hardship and never brought us good things. 327 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:17,480 Now I just want to take a second to talk about this. 328 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:21,360 One more thing. It says this is the first 329 00:19:21,360 --> 00:19:25,080 commandment with promise. Parents have a great 330 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:30,480 responsibility, I think, to do their job well because this is 331 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:33,080 the first commandment that people have a chance to obey. 332 00:19:34,360 --> 00:19:37,640 But it also means that we as parents function as a kind of 333 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:42,640 stand in for God. When children are young, they 334 00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:45,440 are not accountable to God in a eternal sense. 335 00:19:46,360 --> 00:19:49,120 These these precious kids that are in here are not. 336 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:53,920 If they if they were to, if time were to end or if they were to 337 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:56,240 die today for some reason, God's not going to hold them 338 00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:59,920 accountable for that. They're going to be peaceful and 339 00:19:59,920 --> 00:20:01,920 and they're going to go to heaven because they're not 340 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:04,880 accountable to God. They're accountable right now to 341 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:08,000 the authority above them, which is their parents and parents. 342 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:10,680 We have such a great responsibility because we're a 343 00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:12,800 temporary standing, you might say for God. 344 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:17,440 So anything we show them. About respecting their leaders 345 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:20,720 or their authority and obeying, We're going to be out of the way 346 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:22,040 someday. And they're going to look up to 347 00:20:22,040 --> 00:20:24,280 authority and they're they're going to see God that way. 348 00:20:25,120 --> 00:20:28,560 They're going to have a chance to translate that relationship, 349 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:33,520 that obedience, that respect to their Heavenly Father later on. 350 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:36,000 And many people who don't respect their Heavenly Father 351 00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:38,600 probably started with not respecting their earthly father. 352 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:42,200 So may we treat this seriously because this is the first 353 00:20:42,200 --> 00:20:46,280 commandment kids have a chance to participate in and learn 354 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:48,560 from. And I've got a lot to learn in 355 00:20:48,560 --> 00:20:52,600 that regard for sure. Verse four he goes on to say and 356 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:56,360 you fathers do not provoke your children to wrath. 357 00:20:56,800 --> 00:21:02,240 OK I think this word provoke it. The the the core concept is 358 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:08,200 don't irritate or kind of agitate them or frustrate them 359 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:11,320 and he's going to kind of give the all the other side of this 360 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:13,440 to bring them up. Nurture and admonition. 361 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:17,040 Train them with a positive spin on all of this on this parenting 362 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:22,440 but it's likely in the sense that making kids feel like they 363 00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:25,320 can't do right. He another translation says do 364 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:28,880 not exasperate them don't make them feel like they can't win. 365 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:32,160 And as I was looking into this, trying to figure out, OK, how 366 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:36,360 to, how to make this come to life more, I came across a list 367 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:42,880 of things that a a parent can do to exasperate or frustrate or 368 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:47,320 provoke their kids. And here's a couple things I'll 369 00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:49,240 start with, first of all, verbal abuse. 370 00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:53,480 Now we'll get into maybe some more details that might clarify 371 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:58,440 some of these, but verbal abuse can make a kid turn to wrath, 372 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:01,720 because when a child is provoked, they get angry, they 373 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:03,240 turn to wrath, they want to lash out. 374 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:10,760 We've seen that verbal abuse is a is a very strong provoker for 375 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:16,240 kids #2 not showing support or love, lashing out in anger as 376 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:21,280 the parent staying angry with kids instead of providing A 377 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:25,640 consequence and then resolution. I think this is big because 378 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:30,120 there needs to be consequences in in as. 379 00:22:30,120 --> 00:22:33,880 We're going to see in a minute that God advises consequence in 380 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:36,160 our lives, but he also advises resolution. 381 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:41,560 And everything we're about to go over is really just a concept 382 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:43,840 that we as Christians should be obeying anyway, just applied to 383 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:45,760 our kids. Sometimes we don't think that 384 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:48,760 they apply to us as parents because now we're the authority 385 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:51,440 and get to do whatever we want. I I don't know why we would make 386 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:55,680 that junk. But resolution is something God 387 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:59,160 exemplifies throughout the Bible and we want kids to see that 388 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:03,280 they can learn how to move on to have a consequence and then move 389 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:08,600 past that and and enjoy forgiveness, enjoy the fruits of 390 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:11,840 doing right. And we have to model this for 391 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:13,680 them. OK, let's continue on. 392 00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:17,240 Another thing that they could, a parent could do to provoke, 393 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,840 especially a father to provoke to provoke their child is to 394 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:26,000 constantly find fault. And I think this will clarify 395 00:23:26,120 --> 00:23:27,600 maybe what that means a little more. 396 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:32,080 Number one, I think placing unrealistic expectations on our 397 00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:35,920 children would would it kind of fall under this constantly 398 00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:38,840 finding fault if we have expectations that are 399 00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:43,280 unrealistic #2 lacking clear expectations. 400 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:47,520 So if they don't know what I'm going to do or what they should 401 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:50,760 be doing, and they're just kind of always on their heels not 402 00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:54,160 knowing how to respond and how to move forward, they're going 403 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:58,280 to be angry and upset. Being inconsistent with 404 00:23:58,280 --> 00:24:01,840 discipline with our children can cause them to be provoked. 405 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:06,360 Ecclesiastes 8 verse 11 says because the sentence against an 406 00:24:06,360 --> 00:24:08,760 evil work is not executed speedily. 407 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:12,920 Therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to 408 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:16,520 do evil. And you might say with multiple 409 00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:19,720 children that could be the case. If one kid gets one response, 410 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:23,400 another gets another you. There's a lot of wisdom to be 411 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:26,200 had in this and and how to respond to specific situations 412 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:30,760 that you guys have more than me. But being inconsistent can 413 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:34,480 provoke kids giving our children too much freedom. 414 00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:40,040 Proverbs 29 verse 15 says the rod and rebuke give wisdom, but 415 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:43,520 a child left to himself brings shame to his mother. 416 00:24:45,360 --> 00:24:49,800 Next, ridiculing our children. Now, Like we said before, 417 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:53,400 anything that would be commanded to a Christian to do with their 418 00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:55,560 speech also applies to parenting. 419 00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:58,000 That we wouldn't ridicule or beat them down. 420 00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:02,400 And that also goes for calling names, giving them degrade, 421 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:06,440 degradation instead of encouragement, failing to affirm 422 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:09,560 our children, which is acknowledging the good and 423 00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:12,000 bringing out the good, and dwelling on the positive when it 424 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:14,600 is there. Our commands about speech are to 425 00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:19,280 edify, which just means to build up, to rebuke, to exhort, but 426 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:23,800 nothing about belittling. Disciplining our children in 427 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:30,720 anger can lead to the wrath of a child refusing to admit our own 428 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:35,560 faults to our children. And this is basically a a way to 429 00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:37,680 inject humility into a relationship. 430 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:41,560 If I admit when I make a mistake, it'll show humility 431 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:44,240 that the child needs to see. So they can in turn have 432 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:47,880 humility and understand that hey, they're they're trying to, 433 00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:50,840 they're learning to. Mom and Dad are still trying. 434 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:55,240 They're learning as well, comparing them to siblings or to 435 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:57,800 other children. Again, a common concept in the 436 00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:01,360 Christian life, 2nd Corinthians 10 verse 12, says we dare not 437 00:26:01,360 --> 00:26:05,720 class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend 438 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:10,360 themselves, but they measuring themselves by themselves and 439 00:26:10,360 --> 00:26:12,040 comparing themselves among themselves. 440 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:16,960 They're not wise. Comparison is not good with 441 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:19,840 other individuals. We're supposed to look to God as 442 00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:23,560 our example, look to Jesus. But comparison is never helpful. 443 00:26:24,360 --> 00:26:27,640 Yelling at and disrespecting our children in front of others. 444 00:26:28,120 --> 00:26:30,760 Again, what does the Bible say to most Christians and or to all 445 00:26:30,760 --> 00:26:32,920 Christians? Matthew 18, verse 15. 446 00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:36,400 Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his 447 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:38,120 fault. Between you and him alone. 448 00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:40,320 If he hears you, you have gained your brother. 449 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:43,280 This isn't about parenting, but it sure applies. 450 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:47,840 If we want to show them how to manage conflict, how to manage a 451 00:26:47,840 --> 00:26:51,120 problem, go to them. Bring them alone. 452 00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:54,360 Don't embarrass them so they can actually take in what we're 453 00:26:54,360 --> 00:26:57,920 doing. Breaking our promises to 454 00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:00,560 children and there's commandments about honesty and 455 00:27:00,560 --> 00:27:04,240 following your word and and children can be provoked to 456 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:06,760 anger and to wrath by not doing that. 457 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:09,800 I thought this was interesting in the list that I read, failing 458 00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:12,760 to listen to listen to our children's opinions. 459 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:16,280 And now I'm not saying that everything your kid ever says, 460 00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:19,000 it needs to be just, Oh yeah, let's do it your way or you have 461 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:21,080 to listen to every single opinion because kids are going 462 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:23,080 to rattle on once they get to a certain age. 463 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:25,880 But if we just always dismiss them. 464 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:30,800 Proverbs 18 has this guidance. It says he who answers a matter 465 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:33,920 before he hears it is folly in shame to him. 466 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:37,720 He goes on to say the first one to plead his cause seems right 467 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:40,120 until his neighbor comes and examines him. 468 00:27:42,080 --> 00:27:47,440 Proverbs advises to hear things out, so that doesn't mean OK in 469 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:49,840 every single situation you have to apply this concept. 470 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:53,080 But as a general rule, maybe we maybe that'll help with our kids 471 00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:55,720 to see that we are listening to them and value them so where 472 00:27:55,720 --> 00:28:01,120 they don't turn angry and upset. Nurturing, marital disharmony 473 00:28:01,120 --> 00:28:03,480 and tension before our children if you're married. 474 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:08,000 So having that disharmony and tension is going to then 475 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:12,480 translate itself to the kids living a hypocritical life in 476 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:14,120 front of our children. And that's kind of you could 477 00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:16,240 summarize everything we've said by that right there. 478 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:20,080 Just being hypocritical, not doing what we say we stand for 479 00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:23,440 and modeling anger in front of our children. 480 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:27,960 These are ways that we can provoke our children. 481 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:31,400 So maybe the the exact opposite would be the guidance for us as 482 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:34,720 parents. But instead he says but bring 483 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:38,320 them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. 484 00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:41,520 Some translations term that nurture. 485 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:44,840 So this is more of a a building up and a nurturing and that 486 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:49,000 connotation where this might be more of a an exhortation a this 487 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:51,000 is how you need to change, this is how you need to grow. 488 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:54,440 Don't be afraid to to push the kids to do more maybe and to 489 00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:56,440 obey better than they have in the past. 490 00:28:57,440 --> 00:28:59,600 But do not forget the nurturing side. 491 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:08,040 This verse he he addresses specifically to fathers, and I 492 00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:11,960 think mothers do a great job naturally of nurturing. 493 00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:15,440 They do a great job of of a building up and being there for 494 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:18,040 the kids in the ways that dads don't always have that same 495 00:29:18,040 --> 00:29:22,040 instinct and their the responsibilities placed on the 496 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:25,680 father. Yes, to nurture, but he is 497 00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:28,920 supposed to direct the home to make sure it follows in the 498 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:32,120 Lord. So yes, the mother will be 499 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:36,400 nurturing, and yes, the father can can exhort and to challenge 500 00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:39,320 his kid to do better and to provide consequence and all 501 00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:43,640 these things. But may the father in every home 502 00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:47,920 do a good job of directing this as the spiritual head of his 503 00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:50,320 home? That would be in the Lord. 504 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:54,240 That would be guided by the Lord's wisdom, the Lord's ways, 505 00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:57,920 and setting the path for the kids. 506 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:01,880 I'm also thankful as we think about as parents. 507 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:04,600 That's a big responsibility as fathers. 508 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:07,720 That's a lot to expect. And we have a high standard. 509 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:12,760 I'm thankful because as we try to figure out what's the best 510 00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:15,600 for our kids, parents can provide a lot of, can get a lot 511 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:17,520 of stress. There's a lot of information on 512 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:19,280 the Internet today about you should do this, You shouldn't do 513 00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:19,880 that. Don't do that. 514 00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:20,920 I can't believe you'd ever do that. 515 00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:23,760 That's terrible. It's can be nauseating to read 516 00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:29,800 all the advice and the experts and all the things they say, but 517 00:30:29,800 --> 00:30:34,040 to know that God has my best interests at heart to where as I 518 00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:38,120 try to do our best for we are best for Charlie and we want to 519 00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:40,640 nourish and and nurture him as the best we can. 520 00:30:40,920 --> 00:30:44,760 The fact that God has that interest for me and he knows 521 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:47,840 what's best for me makes me feel pretty thankful to be a a child 522 00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:51,040 of His. To know that he's got the right 523 00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:54,920 training and admonition for me. To know that I have the comfort 524 00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:58,680 in my challenges, in my trials, in the pruning where he has to 525 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:02,640 change me, that he has what's best for my own support and 526 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:06,480 growth at heart. Aren't you glad that God knows 527 00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:08,960 the challenges you need? The kick in, the kick in the 528 00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:10,840 rear? We need the support and the 529 00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:13,320 environment we need to be better. 530 00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:20,560 Deuteronomy 6, verse six has these words of wisdom, I think 531 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:23,200 that really help encapsulate what we should be doing as 532 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:26,600 parents, it says. And these words which I command 533 00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:28,440 you today, shall be in your heart again. 534 00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:31,480 Not just parents for everyone, for everyone. 535 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:35,640 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk 536 00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:37,920 of them when you sit in your house, when you walk. 537 00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:40,440 By the way, when you lie down, when you rise up. 538 00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:43,320 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be 539 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:46,280 frontlets between your eyes. You know, every family has a 540 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:49,600 different system of how they get their spiritual time in or 541 00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:53,320 whatever you might say, but you just have it always in front of 542 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:54,920 you. I just remember my parents were 543 00:31:54,920 --> 00:31:58,360 really good about talking about the word, you know, before we go 544 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:00,920 to school, talking about on the way home from church, what you 545 00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:03,760 know about the lesson or about things that were going on. 546 00:32:03,760 --> 00:32:06,600 They just always worked it in. We didn't always have the 547 00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:09,320 structured regiment Bible study all the time, but we talked 548 00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:14,120 about the Word and I'm thankful to them for that, that it will 549 00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:18,480 always be a sign, our hand and a front lit between your eyes. 550 00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:23,440 It would always be in front of us with our families and as I 551 00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:28,240 was reading and and Samuel this week, I ran across this example 552 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:30,520 that I thought was powerful. As we kind of close up. 553 00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:33,480 We're not going to get to employee and and boss 554 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:35,280 relationship. Today we're going to finish up 555 00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:38,160 with this. I read about the commitment of a 556 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:42,120 mother in First Samuel 1. It says the nalkana her husband 557 00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:44,560 said to her. Hannah, why do you weep? 558 00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:48,000 Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? 559 00:32:48,360 --> 00:32:50,280 Am I not better to you than ten sons? 560 00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:53,720 So the context of what's going on here, Hannah is this woman 561 00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:56,560 who can't have children and she's just been tore up about 562 00:32:56,560 --> 00:32:57,920 it. She's discouraged, she can't 563 00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:00,000 have kids. She wants them so badly. 564 00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:03,520 And her husband as husband do. What's wrong? 565 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:08,320 I'm not good enough for you as husbands, so obtusely might say 566 00:33:08,840 --> 00:33:11,960 It's not about that. But the husband's like, am I not 567 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:14,800 more valuable? So Hannah arose after they had 568 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:16,640 finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. 569 00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:19,960 Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorposts of 570 00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:23,680 the Tabernacle of the Lord, and she was in bitterness of soul, 571 00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:26,040 and prayed to the Lord, and wept in anguish. 572 00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:30,320 And she made a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if you will 573 00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:33,560 indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant and Remember 574 00:33:33,560 --> 00:33:36,920 Me, and not forget your maidservant, but will give your 575 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:41,480 maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all 576 00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:45,000 the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head. 577 00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:48,760 The the thing I want to talk about from this and bring out is 578 00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:53,680 she was desperate for a child. And the Lord ends up giving her 579 00:33:53,680 --> 00:33:57,440 that child, and the Lord ends up blessing her, and she follows 580 00:33:57,440 --> 00:33:59,960 through. She takes him to the temple and 581 00:33:59,960 --> 00:34:01,960 turns him over to the Lord once he's raised. 582 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:08,320 And that's a great example to me of what our attitude should be 583 00:34:08,320 --> 00:34:10,440 as parents is God this kids yours. 584 00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:14,120 And I just want to build him up and prepare him for you. 585 00:34:16,639 --> 00:34:19,600 And this it took her. I don't know if she would have 586 00:34:19,600 --> 00:34:23,040 done this if she if she was able to have kids really quick and 587 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:25,120 easy like the other one, that she just she just popped him 588 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:26,400 out. It was no problem for her. 589 00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:28,760 She wasn't probably as thankful as Hannah was. 590 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:33,040 And she didn't have such an intense devotion, maybe to the 591 00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:36,239 Lord as these kids did, as her child Samuel did. 592 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:44,840 May we have that kind of thankfulness for our children 593 00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:48,000 and our commitment to give them to the Lord. 594 00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:51,400 Whether we've had trouble having kids or not, we can appreciate 595 00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:55,159 them for what they are, the value they bring, the hope that 596 00:34:55,159 --> 00:34:57,720 they are, and their usefulness to the Lord. 597 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:01,000 And then we have that attitude, even if we haven't suffered. 598 00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:05,480 Maybe, like Hannah has, she can naturally appreciate that. 599 00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:09,720 But may we instil this mentality into our own relationship? 600 00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:12,280 But maybe you're saying, what about me? 601 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:14,240 Like, this isn't my responsibility. 602 00:35:14,240 --> 00:35:17,880 I'm not raising kids. I think this, in this attitude 603 00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:21,440 is simply, Lord, whatever's in my hands right now, I give to 604 00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:23,200 you. And maybe for you, it's not 605 00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:24,880 kids. Or maybe it was kids. 606 00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:27,040 Now it's not anymore. What about me? 607 00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:34,480 1st Corinthians, 7, verse 32? He's talking about how he wants 608 00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:36,480 them to be focused on serving the Lord. 609 00:35:36,720 --> 00:35:39,120 And he kind of advises them. Paul advises them, you know, if 610 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:42,840 you can avoid getting married and getting caught up in the 611 00:35:42,840 --> 00:35:46,280 stresses and the pressures of taking care of a family, then 612 00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:48,840 the benefit is you always just get to focus your time and 613 00:35:48,840 --> 00:35:52,320 energy on the Lord. So even if you don't have a 614 00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:55,720 family, maybe you have a special opportunity to focus your energy 615 00:35:55,720 --> 00:35:57,880 on the Lord. And that's Hannah's mentality 616 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:00,400 ultimately, right? Like God, I've got this, I want 617 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:03,560 to use it to serve you. Maybe we have that mentality, 618 00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:09,040 whether we have kids or not, so that we may serve the Lord 619 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:11,320 without distraction. Maybe that's where you're at. 620 00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:13,880 You don't have a lot of distraction to care for the 621 00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:16,640 needs of a spouse or a child or whatever the case is. 622 00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:20,560 Maybe we serve the Lord without distraction with the same 623 00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:23,640 attitude that Hannah came to the Lord with. 624 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:27,640 Ultimately, in First Corinthians 10, this should be our attitude. 625 00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:33,600 So whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for 626 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:36,680 the glory of God. And we are not going to get into 627 00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:38,800 bond servants. We're at time right now that 628 00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:41,200 this is a good breaking point. I'm really excited for this 629 00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:44,440 because this is to me one of the most applicable and motivating 630 00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:47,760 things for me I can think of to go into my new week, my new 631 00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:49,800 year, but we're going to have to hold off on that. 632 00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:51,840 So I'm looking forward to next time. 633 00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:58,080 We know we have a good father, and we know we have a great 634 00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:02,160 responsibility as parents to echo that and to embody that for 635 00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:05,440 our kids in this life. And we have a chance to follow 636 00:37:05,440 --> 00:37:06,880 him. And if you're not already 637 00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:10,080 following him, that good father you can today. 638 00:37:10,720 --> 00:37:15,080 You can be one who hears the Word and repents of your past 639 00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:16,520 life. Say, I'm going to change you 640 00:37:17,240 --> 00:37:20,760 from my will to God's will, confessing that Jesus Christ is 641 00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:24,000 the Son of God, that by Him we may be saved. 642 00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:27,160 You'll be baptized in the remission of for the remission 643 00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:29,480 of sins and be added to His Church. 644 00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:32,480 You can do that today, but if you if you already have done 645 00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:34,320 that and you want to make something right, we are a 646 00:37:34,320 --> 00:37:35,960 family. We are here to support one 647 00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:39,000 another, to grow together, and we'd be happy to help you with 648 00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:40,960 one of either case while we stand while we. 649 00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:45,200 We thank you for listening to our podcast put on by the Church 650 00:37:45,200 --> 00:37:49,680 of Christ at 2215 Plans Rd. in Bakersfield. 651 00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:53,840 If you would like any additional information or you would like to 652 00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:56,800 receive a free Bible correspondence course by mail, 653 00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:02,840 please e-mail us at info at churchofchristbakersfield.com. 654 00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:08,800 Our service times are Sundays at 10:30 AM and 5:00 PM and 655 00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:13,240 Wednesdays at 7:30 PM. Please make plans to join us. 656 00:38:13,720 --> 00:38:15,880 We would love for you to be our honored guest.