1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:01,760 I'd like to switch it up a bit today. 2 00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:05,000 Today I'd like for you to stand as we read God's Word. 3 00:00:05,240 --> 00:00:08,920 We'll stand, I will read, I will pray, and then you'll be seated. 4 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:11,440 So I asked this morning that for the reading of Scripture that if 5 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:14,640 you're able to please stand as we read the authoritative word 6 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:16,600 of God. So be in Joshua chapter 24. 7 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:20,760 We'll start in verse 14 here. The living and active word of 8 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:25,000 God speak now. Therefore fear the Lord, and 9 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:28,960 serve him in sincerity and truth, and put away the gods 10 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:32,159 which your father served beyond the river, and then Egypt, and 11 00:00:32,159 --> 00:00:35,360 serve the Lord. If it is disagreeable in your 12 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,640 sight to serve the Lord, Choose for yourselves today whom you 13 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:42,000 will serve, whether the gods which your father served which 14 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,040 were beyond the river, or the gods, the Amorites, in whose 15 00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:47,840 land you are living. But As for me, in my house, we 16 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:51,320 will serve the Lord. The people answered and said Far 17 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:54,520 be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other 18 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:56,800 gods. He has ears to hear. 19 00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:58,320 Let him hear what God has said. Let's pray. 20 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:01,440 Lord, we thank you for this day as we come before your word. 21 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:03,760 We are so thankful for the authority of Your word and the 22 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:06,480 assurance that we can have in the truthfulness. 7th We pray 23 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:08,520 that your word would be clearly preached today that Your name 24 00:01:08,520 --> 00:01:10,520 would be glorified. We ask this all in your name. 25 00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:12,480 Amen. Please be seated. 26 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:17,720 What a great day. People do not care how much you 27 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:20,040 know and so they know how much you care. 28 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:23,120 I read that quote last year and a greatly impacted the way that 29 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:25,880 I do things. I love what I do. 30 00:01:25,960 --> 00:01:28,400 I love who I do with and I love who I do for. 31 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:31,320 My name is AJ Sparks. I am the youth pastor or the 32 00:01:31,320 --> 00:01:33,760 director of youth ministries is my fourth year doing it. 33 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:35,320 I also do a couple of other things. 34 00:01:35,320 --> 00:01:38,160 My main job is that I'm a speech and debate teacher at Arrowhead 35 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:40,880 Christian Academy in Redlands, which is great. 36 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:43,760 I also teach Bible there for freshmen and I also teach 37 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:45,680 health. That was an add on this year. 38 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:47,640 That was not very fun, but I thought it. 39 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:50,720 And then I'm also a coach. I coach cross country and I 40 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:52,280 coach swim, which has been a lot of fun. 41 00:01:52,280 --> 00:01:54,720 So those are both seasons and during the summer and then I'm 42 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:58,480 also getting my master's online to hopefully teach college or 43 00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:00,520 teach college classes for communication studies. 44 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:04,640 So I love what I do and but again, mainly the reason why I'm 45 00:02:04,640 --> 00:02:06,800 here, I had the youth pastor, the director of youth ministries 46 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:10,160 here and whilst today won't be a youth update, we'll have that in 47 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:13,360 August on Wednesday night. I'd be foolish to not talk about 48 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:15,800 those amazing people in that room for just a little bit. 49 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:19,600 I love them dearly. We have 36 souls in that room. 50 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:24,000 Myself and my wife Maddie, we serve alongside 3 couples and 51 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:26,160 David Lawler. David Lawler is in college right 52 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:26,920 now. He's great. 53 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:30,600 We serve alongside Pablo and Mia Thompson and Anna and Franco 54 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:32,480 boats. And then we also serve alongside 55 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,720 Anna and Ignacio Vargas, who've been there since I was in youth 56 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:38,480 group, which is great. And then we have other esteemed 57 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:41,600 people that come every now and then to either do the elders 58 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:43,000 will come and they'll teach every now and then. 59 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:45,280 But I, I love it. And then we have the kids in 60 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:47,840 that roster. We have 27 souls in that roster. 61 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:50,840 And I, I love them dearly. Every Sunday and Wednesday we 62 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:52,960 have the opportunity to be able to preach them and it's 63 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:54,760 wonderful. And so on Sundays, we've been 64 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:56,640 going over John John's a great book. 65 00:02:56,640 --> 00:02:58,000 I know you guys are going over here. 66 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:00,640 Hopefully none of the sermons are copied from whatever we did 67 00:03:00,640 --> 00:03:02,320 in there. But John, John's a great book. 68 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:04,360 We love it. And we just went over John 5. 69 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:07,040 And in John 5, you get to see how Jesus Christ was 70 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:09,000 interruptible, and it's beautiful. 71 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:11,680 Interruption is not a bad thing. You're on a mission towards 72 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:13,800 something and there's a brief pause. 73 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:15,640 That's what the word interruption means, a brief 74 00:03:15,640 --> 00:03:19,080 pause from what you're doing. Christ was very interruptible, 75 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:21,920 but no matter who he was working with, whenever he was preaching, 76 00:03:21,920 --> 00:03:25,360 working on his mission, people came to him and he was 77 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:27,400 interruptible. And so we talked to the students 78 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:29,880 about interruption and how well they're able to be interrupted 79 00:03:29,880 --> 00:03:32,120 in their own lives for the sake of Christ, for the sake of the 80 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:34,760 Kingdom of God, as well as the Sabbath and what it means to 81 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:37,440 truly rest on Wednesday nights. We've been doing something a 82 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:39,440 little bit different. We're going over biblical 83 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:41,440 leadership. I like to call them Worldview 84 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:43,280 Wednesdays. We basically just go over things 85 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:45,880 that challenge the worldview of the students in there. 86 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:47,960 And so we've been going over biblical leadership. 87 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:50,240 We looked at First Corinthians 11/1. 88 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:52,800 Paul says imitate me as I imitate Christ. 89 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:56,000 And so we looked at essential aspects of biblical Christian 90 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,200 leadership and what that means. We first looked at leadership 91 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:01,120 and commencement. Then we looked at leadership and 92 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:04,840 conversion, leadership and creed and chaos and charity and 93 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:08,520 celebration and crisis and controversy and character and 94 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:11,800 confidence and companionship and charging and confession and 95 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:14,680 contending and carrying out our mission and in Christ. 96 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:17,480 It was a wonderful series. And that we're having some guest 97 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:19,399 speakers during the summer. Then on Wednesdays, we'll start 98 00:04:19,399 --> 00:04:22,079 up the Book of James. We also have events that we like 99 00:04:22,079 --> 00:04:24,160 to do in youth ministry. We try to aim for three big 100 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:27,040 events each semester, and the goal is to get these kids to be 101 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:29,560 excited for youth ministry, hopefully, to be excited to 102 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:32,320 hopefully invite kids to come. That's one of the main reasons. 103 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:35,400 Second reason is for us to get to know the kids more, of 104 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:38,120 course, and just have fun with them, for them to enjoy them. 105 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:40,560 The third reason, which is probably the most important, is 106 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:42,920 a discipleship aspect. We want to make sure that the 107 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:45,640 students can see the leaders doing regular things. 108 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:48,040 How do I respond when I get beamed in the face with the 109 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:50,160 dodgeball at Sky Zone? Well, they, they can come and 110 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:52,600 find out. So we, we love our events, but 111 00:04:52,600 --> 00:04:54,600 again, that's not what we'll be discussing today. 112 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:59,680 So let's discuss some semantics. What I teach, I want to try to 113 00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:01,720 maximize the impact of God's word. 114 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:04,560 That's Charles Spurgeon said, the word of God is like a lion. 115 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:07,600 We don't have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the 116 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:10,320 lion loose and the lion will defend itself. 117 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:13,640 So when I try to preach Christ, my goal is to put him on display 118 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:16,160 as clearly as possible. That is all I try to do. 119 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:20,200 So as I develop my lectures, I try to develop them based on 120 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:24,240 strict principles of validity, soundness, and logic of the 121 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:26,520 truth of God's Word. And so there was a man by the 122 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:29,440 name of Petrus van Maastricht who wrote a book called The Best 123 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:31,480 Method of Preaching, and it's a great book. 124 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:34,440 And in his book he outlines if you want to make a sermon or a 125 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:37,440 lecture or a lesson, God honoring, what do you have to do 126 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:39,080 this? First you have to read God's 127 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:42,320 Word, and then you have to exegete God's Word, and you have 128 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:45,120 to pull a doctrine from God's Word, and then you have to apply 129 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:47,040 God's Word. And at the end he has what is 130 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:49,240 called the stirring of the affection, which is basically 131 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:52,080 the charge to the congregation in some sense. 132 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:55,720 So that's my framework, but my ultimate model is Jesus Christ. 133 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:58,840 Of course, the best speech, the best sermon ever given is 134 00:05:58,840 --> 00:06:00,800 Matthew 5 through 7, the Sermon on the Mount. 135 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:03,400 That is a master class and how to give a sermon. 136 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:06,240 There was no OK at your tables. You have a little notepad. 137 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:09,280 It was Jesus Christ and he taught and people listen. 138 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:11,200 I talk to my speech students all the time. 139 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:13,400 You don't need props to be interesting. 140 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:16,000 You don't need cool statistics to be interesting. 141 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:19,200 Your content needs to be good. And if your content is good, 142 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:21,640 people will listen and they'll be engaged and they'll be 143 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:23,800 changed. So again, this is my framework, 144 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:26,920 but my ultimate model is Christ. And Christ is a plethora of two 145 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:28,680 things. First was metaphors and second 146 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:30,720 was questions. People love metaphors. 147 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:33,160 And as a communication major, my job is to make sure that people 148 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:34,920 properly understand what I'm trying to say. 149 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:37,520 And so metaphors are great. We're comparing something in 150 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:40,440 some sense, which is why when I tell my speech students, the 151 00:06:40,440 --> 00:06:43,840 reason why we say the word like so much in our conversations is 152 00:06:43,840 --> 00:06:45,280 because you're trying to compare something. 153 00:06:45,280 --> 00:06:48,040 That's all we're trying to do is make our message relatable to 154 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:49,480 the audience that we're giving it to. 155 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:53,560 But those words like, and they decrease our clarity. 156 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:57,200 But Christ used a lot of metaphors and pastors try to use 157 00:06:57,200 --> 00:07:00,040 metaphors all the time. Food metaphors are very common 158 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:01,480 because everyone loves food, right? 159 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:03,600 At the common one of sports, people love sports. 160 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,840 The pastor will say, winning someone to salvation is like, 161 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:09,320 don't want to touchdown. And everyone's like, yeah, I get 162 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:10,040 that. I love that. 163 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:11,840 And the other half of the congregation is like, I don't 164 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:14,360 even play basketball. And if you didn't get that joke, 165 00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:17,320 that one was probably for you. But so some metaphors are great 166 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:19,920 because again, they communicates for audience on a way that they 167 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:22,160 can understand. Christ obviously used a lot of 168 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:24,720 farming metaphors because they were prevalent in that time. 169 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:27,360 But the second thing that Christ uses questions. 170 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:31,760 Oh, if we could ask questions like Jesus Christ ask questions. 171 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:35,200 Just examining his conversations with people and the questions 172 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:38,360 that he asked. Zach Zender, an author, found 173 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:41,480 that Christ asked 305 questions in the Gospels. 174 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:44,120 It's astounding. Questions are so important 175 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:47,080 because they get us to think. And so I have this chart here. 176 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:50,560 Back in the early 2000s, there was two men that got together. 177 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:52,440 There was a theologian and a mathematician. 178 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:55,640 They got together and they made this chart and they found 179 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:58,520 basically what it is. It's every single line is when 180 00:07:58,520 --> 00:08:00,880 the Bible references itself in some sense. 181 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:06,400 They found that the Bible references itself 63,799 times. 182 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:12,080 It is the most complex book in all of history, 1500 years, over 183 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:15,400 40 authors, 66 books, 2 testaments, all saying the same 184 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:17,440 thing about the same person, Jesus Christ. 185 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:20,000 And so when Christ asked questions, it was all just 186 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:22,800 leading back to what has been and looking forward to what will 187 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:25,040 be. And so asking questions are so 188 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:27,800 incredibly important. And our job as Christians is to 189 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:30,240 ask good questions. We're to learn how to ask 190 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:35,120 questions properly. The Gospels again are riddled 191 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:37,520 with these specifically questions that Christ as drew 192 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:42,159 people in to what he was doing. And so today I would like to ask 193 00:08:42,159 --> 00:08:45,320 you all a question I think the modern church would do well in 194 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:48,160 answering effectively. The opportunity to speak before 195 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:50,640 you today has excited me. I was told that things about 2 196 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:52,160 1/2 weeks ago and I was like, great, I've already had 197 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:54,040 something on mine for a while that I'd love to share with the 198 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:56,320 church. And there's a plethora of things 199 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:58,040 I could talk about. I could talk about the 200 00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:01,880 pervasiveness of the LGBTQ community and the ideology has 201 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:04,960 on campus As I could talk to you about how homeschooling in light 202 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:07,160 of the modern education system is a proper thing. 203 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:10,160 Or the importance of worship and prayer in the personal and 204 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:13,120 corporate life. The the sovereignty of God, the 205 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:16,920 doctrine of election and predestination, the imago dei, 206 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:18,760 the image of God. I could talk to you about penal 207 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:20,760 substitutionary atonement. I could talk to you about 208 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:23,880 spiritual disciplines. I could talk to you about the 209 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:27,160 cost of discipleship, biblical forgiveness, post Christian 210 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:30,280 world, living in a post Christian world, along with the 211 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:33,160 lives of post modernism to talk about spiritual warfare, 212 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:35,800 biblical manhood, and womanhood. There's Sermon on the Mount 213 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:36,920 again. It's not even including 214 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:40,080 exegetical topics like the Sermon on the Mount, Romans 5/8 215 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:43,200 looking at sin, grace, struggle and assurance, or Acts and their 216 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:45,800 early mission of the church. And why Acts as the most joyful 217 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:48,600 book and all of scripture? Because all we see is people 218 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:52,040 coming to Christ. But I found it necessary to talk 219 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:55,360 about something else today. Today I wanted to talk to you 220 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:58,320 all about the family. And as the title of the message 221 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,640 state suggests, the family is the forgotten weapon in a fallen 222 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:03,200 world. If you receive an outline in the 223 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:05,200 back, great. I'll go along that briefly. 224 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:08,000 Hopefully I'll talk slowly enough for you all to understand 225 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:10,360 it. I don't want to affirm you in 226 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:14,560 any way, because affirm affirmation without discipline 227 00:10:14,560 --> 00:10:17,200 just breeds delusion. My job is to really get to the 228 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:19,360 heart of the matter of what family needs to be and why 229 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:23,720 everyone is involved in this. So as in all important lectures 230 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:26,240 or topics, begin with an investigation. 231 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:28,680 Let's do that. What is the family? 232 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:32,360 If you have to define family on your own, how would you define 233 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:35,160 family? Are you a part of the family or 234 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:36,240 are you not a part of the family? 235 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:39,040 Do you enjoy your family? What kind of family you a part 236 00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:41,000 of? What are you doing to create a 237 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:43,920 family around you? Is everyone involved in a 238 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:45,520 family? Is it necessary to start or 239 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:47,760 create or be involved in a family? 240 00:10:48,280 --> 00:10:49,600 So a couple of questions for you. 241 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:52,360 What is the current state of your family? 242 00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:55,480 When was the last time that you checked the spiritual condition 243 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:58,880 of your family? Husbands, are you leading your 244 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:01,600 homes as Christ lit the church with sacrificial love? 245 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:05,840 Wives, are you submitting to and respecting your husbands as unto 246 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:08,880 the Lord? Children, are you honoring your 247 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:11,440 father and mother because the Bible commands it, or just when 248 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:13,280 it's convenient for you to get something? 249 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:17,680 How does your marriage display the gospel to your children into 250 00:11:17,680 --> 00:11:20,960 a watching world? What intentional rhythms of 251 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:22,880 discipleship exist in your home right now? 252 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:28,360 What legacy of faith, or lack of it, are you actively leaving for 253 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:30,320 the people around you and your family? 254 00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:35,280 How do you reflect God's hearts in the way you speak to or about 255 00:11:35,280 --> 00:11:37,640 your family? Are you contributing to the 256 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:40,880 unity of the home or the division of your home? 257 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:45,240 Who is in your family that you are currently failing to forgive 258 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:49,040 or to reach out to? Are there sins in your family 259 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:51,080 that have been normalized for the sake of comfort? 260 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:55,560 If your family were the only Bible that your neighbors ever 261 00:11:55,560 --> 00:11:58,720 saw or were able to read, what would they learn about Christ? 262 00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:03,160 And what is 1 habit, tradition, or pattern in your family that 263 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:06,160 needs to die at the cross? I think these are all good 264 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:07,960 questions to ask about your family. 265 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:10,720 Let's get into it. The first blank is the 266 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:14,440 definition of the family. The family. 267 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:18,200 What is it? God's first institution for 268 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:23,280 discipleship, which is designed to reflect his covenant love, 269 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:28,200 transmit the truth, and picture Christ's relationship to the 270 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:30,880 church. I'll say that again, God's first 271 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:35,800 institution for discipleship, which is designed to reflect his 272 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:40,320 covenant love, transmit the truth in picture Christ's 273 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:42,720 relationship with the church. As I talked to my youth 274 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:44,880 students, I like to get them long definitions for things that 275 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:46,920 we unpacked them. My favorite one we ever did was 276 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:50,640 about 3 years ago, I gave him a definition for love and love has 277 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:54,000 God as the primary object. It is expressed in obedience 278 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:57,080 towards Him and it is sacrificial, continual, and 279 00:12:57,080 --> 00:12:59,440 impartial. So I like to have three parts to 280 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:00,840 every definition which I have here. 281 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:05,520 So again, the first institution for discipleship and then again 282 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:09,880 designed to reflect his covenant love, transmit the truth and 283 00:13:09,880 --> 00:13:12,440 pictures Christ's relationship to the church. 284 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:16,240 While the biological family serves as the primary context 285 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:21,520 for these responsibilities. Every believer, every believer, 286 00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:24,760 whether married or single, is called to uphold, support and 287 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:28,200 live out the biblical vision of family within the household of 288 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:31,760 faith, the church. Whether you're single, married, 289 00:13:31,960 --> 00:13:36,000 widowed, divorced, or still a child in your parents roof, the 290 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:39,160 topic of family is not just relevant, it is essential. 291 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:42,680 God designed the family as the primary institution, again for 292 00:13:42,680 --> 00:13:45,480 forming character, for transmitting the truth and 293 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:48,160 displaying the gospel to a world that desperately needs it. 294 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:51,080 But more than that, every believer belongs to a greater 295 00:13:51,080 --> 00:13:54,520 family, which of course is the household of faith in Christ. 296 00:13:54,520 --> 00:13:58,000 We are brothers and sisters, spiritual fathers and mothers, 297 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:01,120 sons and daughters, not by blood but by the spirits. 298 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:04,040 So a biblical understanding of the family teaches us how to 299 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:07,920 love sacrificially, teaches us how to serve faithfully, lead 300 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:10,720 humbly, submit joyfully, forgive continually. 301 00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:12,600 And these aren't just family values. 302 00:14:12,680 --> 00:14:15,120 These are Kingdom values and things that we all have to take 303 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:17,560 into consideration. So even if you're not currently 304 00:14:17,560 --> 00:14:20,160 raising children or sharing a home with the spouse, you are 305 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:23,280 called to strengthen and support the families around you and the 306 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:26,080 disciple, the next generation. I have countless teachers at 307 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:29,000 where I work at who are not married and they see the 308 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:32,320 responsibility as leading the next generation as spiritual 309 00:14:32,320 --> 00:14:34,840 fathers or spiritual mothers to these kids. 310 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:38,360 And so this, this sermon that this passage, this lecture is 311 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:42,320 not just for people with rings on their fingers or people with 312 00:14:42,320 --> 00:14:44,200 children. It is for the whole body of 313 00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:47,160 Christ because when families are strong, the church is strong. 314 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:49,640 And when the church lives as God's family, the world sees a 315 00:14:49,640 --> 00:14:52,320 clearer picture of Christ. So this is necessary. 316 00:14:52,760 --> 00:14:54,920 Now some of you, when you hear the phrase family, I don't 317 00:14:55,320 --> 00:14:57,400 really like that. We don't like that for a couple 318 00:14:57,400 --> 00:14:59,480 of reasons. Number one, our culture hates 319 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:01,280 family. And maybe that dropped off on 320 00:15:01,280 --> 00:15:02,440 you. I have no idea. 321 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:08,080 Since 2007, the number of births per 1000 people in the US has 322 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:10,640 dropped nearly 50% in the United States. 323 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:15,560 It's a tragedy. China back in 1979 had a one 324 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:18,680 child policy and they kept it all up to 2015. 325 00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:21,440 And it was so bad that they didn't have to make it. 326 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:24,040 Now, OK, now you can have two children because the condition, 327 00:15:24,040 --> 00:15:26,120 the economic state in China was not thriving. 328 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:29,640 So they changed it to 2. And then just six years later in 329 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:32,120 2021, they changed it to, OK, now you can have more. 330 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:35,280 And to go with that, an article in New York Times came out where 331 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:38,440 they found there were more adults in diapers and there were 332 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:41,400 children in diapers in China. And they live with the 333 00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:44,240 consequences of what they did. Our, our culture hates family. 334 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:50,280 Secondly, we are single or we've been hurt by family in some 335 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:52,560 sense. So we think of if I, if I don't 336 00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:55,840 have, if I don't have a husband or a wife or, or if I, you know, 337 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:59,040 if I've been hurt by my family, I, I'm not really a fan of this 338 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:01,560 topic. A third one then would be when 339 00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:04,680 you talk about family, people think it's a certain phase of 340 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:08,040 life, right? You have a one, one son, one 341 00:16:08,040 --> 00:16:11,200 daughter, a dog, white pick, a fence, nice house, all that, all 342 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:14,000 those sort of things. But that's not necessarily true. 343 00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:16,960 You will always be a part of a family. 344 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:19,040 You've always been a part of a family. 345 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:22,080 For those of us who have come to salvation, this extends to all 346 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:24,520 of eternity, which is a beautiful thing because when God 347 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:29,120 talks to us about this notion of Him and his redeemed people, he 348 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:32,880 speaks to us using the metaphor of family, the bride, the 349 00:16:32,880 --> 00:16:35,240 church, and the bridegroom, Christ. 350 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:39,360 When he communicates to us God the Father and God the Son, this 351 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:42,800 is family language. So when looking at what I could 352 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:46,160 speak on today, I wanted you all to walk away knowing more about 353 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:49,960 Christ than you do about me. I think any good sermon, the 354 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:52,320 congregation always walk away knowing more about Christ than 355 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:54,280 they do about whoever speaking about Christ. 356 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:57,640 And again, this this issue of family is of the utmost 357 00:16:57,640 --> 00:16:59,360 importance because it applies to all of us. 358 00:16:59,360 --> 00:17:01,960 So again, I want to kind of keep with the regular flow of what I 359 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:04,480 said about we read the passage. We kind of we're not going to 360 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:05,960 execute it as much. We'll look at different 361 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:07,359 passages, but we'll pull a doctrine right now. 362 00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:09,359 Then we'll look at some application and we'll have a 363 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:11,880 stirring of the affections. So let's go to our our doctor 364 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:14,480 for today. Our doctor for today is that the 365 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:19,000 family is a divine institution, a divine institution. 366 00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:22,000 It's typically whenever I give a doctrine to my students, there 367 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:23,880 has to be scripture that backs it up. 368 00:17:24,079 --> 00:17:26,880 So please turn to Ephesians chapter 5, verse 22. 369 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:31,000 This is of course, a classic verse on marriage. 370 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:33,840 But again, to further drive from the point that family is a 371 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:36,720 divine institution, it's going to get better and better and 372 00:17:36,720 --> 00:17:39,400 more convicting and more convicting because I haven't 373 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:40,760 even gotten to the main point yet. 374 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:42,600 The main point is going to be awesome. 375 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:45,000 And it's something that's been right under your nose forever 376 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:47,360 and we just, we just don't even know about. 377 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:50,040 So Ephesians 5, verse 22, we'll start there. 378 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:52,840 Those wives be subject to your own husband's ask to the Lord. 379 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:54,640 For the husband is the head of the wife. 380 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:57,560 Christ also is the head of the church, He himself being the 381 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:00,640 Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to 382 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:03,800 Christ, so also the wives ought to be subject to their husbands 383 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:05,920 and everything. Husbands love your wives. 384 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:09,040 Just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 385 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:13,080 so He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of 386 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:17,320 water, with the Word, that He might present to Himself the 387 00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:20,760 Church and all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such 388 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:23,960 thing, but that she would be holy and blameless. 389 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:28,080 So husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own 390 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:30,760 bodies. He who loves his own wife loves 391 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:32,760 himself. For no one ever hated his own 392 00:18:32,760 --> 00:18:36,120 flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ 393 00:18:36,120 --> 00:18:39,600 also does the Church. Go to Genesis chapter 2. 394 00:18:40,720 --> 00:18:44,640 This is the very beginning of course in Genesis chapter 2 we 395 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:47,920 see in verse 22 through 24 again we get the picture of what 396 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:52,200 marriage is supposed to be, an institution by God, and more 397 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:54,800 importantly again as our doctrine stated, it is the 398 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:57,800 family being the divine institution by God. 399 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:01,960 Genesis 2 verse 22 says the Lord God fashioned into a woman the 400 00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:05,360 rib which He had taken from the man and brought her to the man. 401 00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:08,880 Verse 23, the man said this is now a bone of my bones and flesh 402 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:10,960 of my flesh. She shall be called a woman 403 00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:12,760 because she was taken out of a man. 404 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:15,640 For this reason, the man shall leave his father and his mother 405 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:18,840 and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 406 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:21,520 And then go to First Timothy chapter 3. 407 00:19:22,120 --> 00:19:23,360 I know we're bouncing around a bit. 408 00:19:23,360 --> 00:19:26,040 The verses are also on your outline in some sense, a couple 409 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:27,440 of the main passages we're going over. 410 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:31,200 But First Timothy chapter 3, we get a couple of good things and 411 00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:33,400 we get to see the relationship with family to the church. 412 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:37,200 Because again, working at a school, my job is not to parent 413 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:40,280 the students that I teach. I can't discipline them, you 414 00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:42,160 know, I can't spank them, I can't ground them. 415 00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:45,120 I can give them attention, but that that only relates to what I 416 00:19:45,120 --> 00:19:47,440 have them at school. I can't do anything else outside 417 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:49,960 of that. And so my job as a teacher is to 418 00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:54,320 partner with parents and the job of the church, again, a youth 419 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:57,480 group, right, is to partner with parents because there are 420 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:00,160 certain things that have been given to the church and certain 421 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:02,680 things that have been given to the family and there has to be a 422 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:06,480 distinction. So in First Timothy chapter 3 we 423 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:08,200 verse 4. Is this he? 424 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:12,240 Must be one who manages Speaking of overseers and deacons, 425 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:16,480 manages his own household well, keeping his children under 426 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:19,280 control with all dignity. But if a man does not know how 427 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:22,880 to manage his own household, how will he take care of the Church 428 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:25,280 of God? So right there we get to see the 429 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:27,440 the relationship. Now we get to see the family. 430 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:30,480 If you can't manage your family well, that will relate to how 431 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:32,920 you view the church. Go just the page over if it 432 00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:34,960 applies to you. First Timothy chapter 3, verse 433 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:39,040 14 through 16, it says, I am writing these things to you, 434 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:40,600 hoping to come to you before long. 435 00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:43,480 But in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how 436 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:46,440 one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is 437 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:49,680 the Church of the living God, the pillar and support, or the 438 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:53,480 pillar and buttress of the truth by common confession. 439 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:55,240 Great is the mystery of godliness. 440 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:58,800 He who was revealed in the flesh was vindicated in the spirit, 441 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:01,800 seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the 442 00:21:01,800 --> 00:21:05,360 world, taken up in the glory. That is an amazing passage of 443 00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:08,160 Scripture and that is a great summation of Christ's life in 444 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:10,680 the gospel. But in this I almost called the 445 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:13,400 sermon the family, the Pillar and buttress of the truth, and 446 00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:15,280 how the family was to model the church. 447 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:18,680 But after a conversation with a friend of mine, we we came to 448 00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:21,520 the realization that this is not the family, is not the pillar 449 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:23,040 and buttress of the truth, that is the church. 450 00:21:23,360 --> 00:21:25,720 Again, there are certain things given to the Church and certain 451 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:28,720 things given to the family, and they have to know their rules. 452 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:31,920 Again, the Church is the pillar and buttress of the truth. 453 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:34,480 It is an institution that has been entrusted with the 454 00:21:34,480 --> 00:21:37,320 receiving, guarding and proclaiming of the mysteries of 455 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:41,760 faith through men and women who are graced and gifted to 456 00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:44,600 faithfully teach these truths. But still, the family plays a 457 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:47,160 vital role in supporting the Church. 458 00:21:47,360 --> 00:21:50,360 Because the Church is made-up of families, fathers and mothers 459 00:21:50,360 --> 00:21:53,000 are called to teach their children these same truths on a 460 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:56,000 daily basis as part of their duty to raise children in the 461 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:59,840 faith. The family exists by a natural 462 00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:02,080 design. So that's why the issue with the 463 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:05,880 LGBTQ community is not that it's necessarily just sinful, 464 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:08,480 although it is. It's against a natural cause of 465 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:11,360 order that God created. Because the family is natural. 466 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:15,600 The church is a supernatural institution that God has given 467 00:22:15,600 --> 00:22:17,920 to us. It has been established by 468 00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:20,760 Christ for the purpose of God's glory, the making of disciples, 469 00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:22,720 and the propagation of the truth. 470 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:25,800 This reality of family also teaches us what it means to be a 471 00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:28,160 church. Bodhi Bakkam said that we don't 472 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:30,600 know what it means to be family and we don't know what it means 473 00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:33,200 to be church. There is a reason we are wrong 474 00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:35,640 on both. If you can't get one, you will 475 00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:38,360 not get the other. It is hard to find somebody, a 476 00:22:38,360 --> 00:22:41,360 strong, saved, God fearing Christian who gets it from a 477 00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:43,880 biblical perspective what it means to be involved in the 478 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:47,080 local assembly through service and love, but doesn't get the 479 00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:49,640 family thing. Vice versa, it's hard to find 480 00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:52,280 someone who knows how to lead their family and understands 481 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:54,320 their role in the family but doesn't really get the church 482 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:57,720 thing. They are dependent upon one 483 00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:00,560 another. A church is only as strong as 484 00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:03,800 weakest family in it and we must understand that we are tied 485 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:06,360 together and without the strength of one another we 486 00:23:06,360 --> 00:23:09,640 cannot get to places unknown to us as we currently exist. 487 00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:12,560 So when looking at this, I want to drive home a singular point 488 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:13,600 today. Now we're going to get to the 489 00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:16,840 main thing that I think is going to really revolutionize the way 490 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:20,280 your family is, and the main point of today is going to be 491 00:23:20,280 --> 00:23:22,600 family worship. The key point to drive home 492 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:26,120 today is family worship. If the family, it's an 493 00:23:26,120 --> 00:23:29,440 institution, has been given by God divinely to fight off evil 494 00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:33,400 in this world, I believe the best possible way to continue to 495 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:35,920 grow your family is to partake in what is called family 496 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:38,960 worship. This idea was popularized by a 497 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:42,040 man named Joel Beak in recent years, but it's been popular 498 00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:44,320 much before then. But again, it's something that I 499 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:47,320 think is necessary to bring to your attentions today, and I'll 500 00:23:47,320 --> 00:23:48,560 discuss more about this in a bit. 501 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:51,440 In family worship, I'm going to emphasize 4 main points. 502 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:53,960 We're going to look at the, the reading of God's Word, the 503 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:57,200 instruction of God's Word, prayer after God's Word, and 504 00:23:57,200 --> 00:23:59,960 then singing of God's Word. That that's it. 505 00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:02,920 So if you came today expecting something cool from a guest 506 00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:05,360 speaker or something different and profound, it's the simple 507 00:24:05,360 --> 00:24:08,160 truths. Everyone has goals. 508 00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:11,400 Winners have goals, losers have goals. 509 00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:15,880 If you have the goal of creating a strong family, it's not just 510 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:18,400 about setting a goal that you think will hopefully one day 511 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:21,000 achieve itself. It's about the daily discipline 512 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:23,960 that separates yourself from every other family to actually 513 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:26,000 do these things. And hopefully today we'll give 514 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:28,880 you the encouragement to do so. Family worship would be a time 515 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:31,880 of devotion that you spend with your family every single day, 516 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:34,560 where the father leads his family in the worship of God. 517 00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:36,520 Of course, when the father is absent, that would then be the 518 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:39,080 mother. This is a lost spiritual arts 519 00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:41,920 and discipline. This is a full time job for 520 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:43,760 parents. I always tell people all the 521 00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:47,440 time I have all these jobs, but my primary ministry is my wife 522 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:49,640 always has been and always will be. 523 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:52,640 She comes before everything else she has to. 524 00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:58,480 In 1677 there was a church covenant put forth by Puritan 525 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:02,480 congregation in Dorchester, MA and it included the following 526 00:25:02,480 --> 00:25:04,480 statement. They said we quote, want to 527 00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:08,160 commit to reform our families, engaging ourselves to the 528 00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:12,160 conscientious care to step before us and to maintain the 529 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:15,800 worship of God in them and to walk in our houses with perfect 530 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:19,400 hearts and a faithful discharge of all domestic duties, 531 00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:22,200 edification, instructing and charging our children in 532 00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:25,520 households to keep the ways of the Lord. 533 00:25:26,120 --> 00:25:30,120 Family worship has saved millions of children throughout 534 00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:34,600 the years because the necessity and dependence upon God's word 535 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:39,840 and family seeing their their their necessary command to raise 536 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:42,520 children. Puritans used to do things 537 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:45,280 called soul visits back in the 1600s. 538 00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:48,800 And if some families were not practicing family worship, some 539 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:52,840 pastors and and elders in the church saw it as an abdication 540 00:25:52,840 --> 00:25:55,240 of their role. And what they would do is that 541 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:57,960 some church would even withhold communion from their fathers 542 00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:00,080 because they did not leave their families properly. 543 00:26:00,960 --> 00:26:03,000 And if you can't lead yourself properly, you definitely won't 544 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:06,440 be leading your family properly. So if they saw the family not 545 00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:08,560 being LED properly, something has to be going on in your own 546 00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:09,520 life. And if something going on in 547 00:26:09,520 --> 00:26:11,960 your own life, communion will have to be withheld from you 548 00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:15,400 this morning. So what does family worship 549 00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:19,360 consist of? Basically reading, instructing, 550 00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:22,240 praying and singing. If you do it twice would be 551 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:23,600 great in the morning and at night. 552 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:26,200 For some families, your schedule only a lots for 10 minutes in 553 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:28,280 the morning, maybe 20 minutes in the afternoon. 554 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:31,000 My goal is to give you all the tools and motivation for you 555 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:33,480 guys to be able to do this. Whether you are by yourself, 556 00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:36,840 living by yourself with the family, just a wife, you're a 557 00:26:36,840 --> 00:26:38,920 widow, you have grandchildren, whatever it is. 558 00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:41,680 This is something that applies to everyone. 559 00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:45,920 But consistency in this is key. So 4 things. 560 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:49,000 The first one again is daily reading of the Word of God. 561 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:51,520 Daily reading of the Word of God. 562 00:26:52,960 --> 00:26:56,560 Second Timothy chapter 3, verse 14 through 17 says this. 563 00:26:57,120 --> 00:26:59,520 You however, continuing the things you have learned and 564 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:03,480 become convinced of knowing from whom you have learned them, and 565 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:05,720 that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which 566 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:08,240 were able to give you wisdom that leads to salvation through 567 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:11,760 faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by 568 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:14,960 God, profitable for teaching and reproof, for correction, for 569 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:17,600 training and righteousness, so that the man of God may be 570 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:19,680 adequate, equipped for every good work. 571 00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:22,600 We love those last two verses because we use them to memorize 572 00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:24,280 about the authority of God's word. 573 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:28,040 But the verse before that, Paul's instructing here in 574 00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:31,120 Second Timothy chapter 3, you know these things from your 575 00:27:31,120 --> 00:27:33,560 youth. That implies that he was taught 576 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:36,840 these things from his youth that the word of God has read to him. 577 00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:41,040 You can read a Psalm a day. So, so I'm going to give you a 578 00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:44,680 couple of things within each point, have a reading plan. 579 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:46,840 Again, one of you can read a Psalm a day with your children, 580 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:49,320 a proverb a day, whatever it might be. 581 00:27:49,560 --> 00:27:52,240 JC Ryals said, fill their minds with Scripture. 582 00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:54,440 Let the Word dwell in them richly. 583 00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:58,200 Give them the Bible, the whole Bible, even while they are 584 00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:01,040 young. It is so important to read God's 585 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:02,560 Word and to have a plan as you read it. 586 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:06,360 You can do the Bible in a year. You know, I, I've only read 587 00:28:06,360 --> 00:28:08,600 through the Bible like twice in my whole life. 588 00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:12,120 I know, I know, I'm young, but I never sat down from beginning. 589 00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:14,120 Then I've had a devotion plan to read through the entirety of 590 00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:16,440 God's Word. I've asked some prominent 591 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:18,400 pastors, what do you do for devotions and how do you 592 00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:21,480 differentiate between preparing A sermon and doing devotions? 593 00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:24,040 And some of them have told me plainly, I, I just do a couple 594 00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:27,760 of Proverb verses a day and that is enough for me to then go out 595 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:31,080 and live that faithfully. I mean, whatever if you did read 596 00:28:31,080 --> 00:28:33,160 this morning, whatever you read, like how much of it you actually 597 00:28:33,160 --> 00:28:34,360 remember? Probably not a lot. 598 00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:36,440 As soon as you go out to the world. 599 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:40,240 I no idea what I no idea what I just did whatsoever. 600 00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:42,560 It's like what James says, you go and you look in the mirror 601 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:44,560 and then you walk when you instantly forget what you look 602 00:28:44,560 --> 00:28:47,040 like. And so it's not you don't need 603 00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:49,200 that. The issue is not more scripture 604 00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:52,640 or more motivation that the issue comes down to, to 605 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:55,200 discipline and, and and application of God's Word. 606 00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:58,760 Secondly, involve your family. Involve your family. 607 00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:01,200 So again, in the daily reading of God's Word, have a reading 608 00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:04,800 plan, Involve the family. Everyone should read as soon as 609 00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:06,440 they're able to. Everyone should and you should 610 00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:09,040 struggle with it. I have a student in my class, 611 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:11,960 his name is Lucas Kiros. He just graduated, he's a senior 612 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:15,760 and he has special needs. He has autism. 613 00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:18,160 And so the special Ed teacher came to me and said we like to 614 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:19,840 have Lucas be in your Bible nine class. 615 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:21,200 Is that OK? Absolutely. 616 00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:23,880 And by God's grace, I have a lot of students that really wanted 617 00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:25,440 to help Lucas and work with Lucas. 618 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:29,560 And we sat there and had Lucas read scripture because Lucas is 619 00:29:29,560 --> 00:29:32,480 a human being created in God's image and his job along with 620 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:34,600 everyone else's job in that classroom is to read God's word. 621 00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:37,400 I don't care how long it takes, Lucas is going to read God's 622 00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:40,160 Word, even if it takes, which it always took me whispering it 623 00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:42,560 into his ear so he could say because he cannot read. 624 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:45,200 It is so important to evolve your family. 625 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:48,000 And then the third thing, be very simple in your explanation. 626 00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:51,160 This doesn't need to be complex. You don't need to be a 627 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:53,360 theologian to do this. Be simple in your explanation. 628 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:56,560 So again, the first one, daily reading of God's Word. 629 00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:59,400 Secondly, daily instruction of God's Word. 630 00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:01,200 Again, daily instruction of God's Word. 631 00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:04,040 Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 6 through 7 says this. 632 00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:07,000 These words which I'm commanding you today shall be in your 633 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,480 hearts. You shall teach them diligently 634 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:11,960 to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your 635 00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:14,440 houses, when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and 636 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:16,920 when you rise up. So these things should be 637 00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:20,520 instructed to your kids, to your children, to those around you. 638 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:23,400 Again, if you don't have kids, this can be with a discipleship 639 00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:24,720 group. You guys can do this with 640 00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:28,280 weekly. So again, a couple of tips. 641 00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:30,360 Encourage dialogue around God's Word. 642 00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:32,760 There are multitudes of commentaries. 643 00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:34,640 And again, the issue is that, well, they're expect. 644 00:30:34,640 --> 00:30:36,040 Yeah, the commentaries are expensive. 645 00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:38,200 I get it. John MacArthur, Matthew Henry, 646 00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:39,680 they can have expensive commentaries. 647 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:44,600 John Gill has a free commentary on every single verse in the 648 00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:47,640 Bible online. Everyone has Internet access, 649 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:51,000 and so you can access that online for free, and so you can 650 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:54,240 have these at your hands. Secondly, be pure in your 651 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:55,600 doctrine. So not only do you have to 652 00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:59,240 encourage dialogue around God's Word, you'd have to be pure and 653 00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:03,280 doctrine, as Titus 27 says, and all things showing myself a 654 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:07,320 pattern of good works and doctrine showing uncorrupted 655 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,840 sincerity. So where do we peer in our 656 00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:12,680 doctrine as we live these things out? 657 00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:16,480 People will always catch more than they hear always. 658 00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:20,400 And I've taught, I just got done with my school year, taught 206 659 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:22,280 students and the things they came up and talked to me are the 660 00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:24,280 things that I did, not even the things that I taught. 661 00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:27,520 So people will catch things more than they will hear things. 662 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:31,400 And then the third tip for that, require attention through 663 00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:34,640 affection. Be passionate about God's Word. 664 00:31:35,240 --> 00:31:37,200 All right, let's do God's Word again. 665 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:40,240 Let's do family worship one more time, be if you're coming to 666 00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:42,560 that or coming to family worship with that attitude. 667 00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:45,120 But then on Saturday or Sunday, hey, we got a football game, 668 00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:47,640 let's do this. The kids are going to see where 669 00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:51,880 the parents priorities are. Third points is daily prayer 670 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:56,320 before the throne of God. Colossians 4/2 says to devote 671 00:31:56,320 --> 00:32:00,040 yourselves to prayer, keeping alerts in it with an attitude of 672 00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:02,600 Thanksgiving. Praying without ceasing doesn't 673 00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:05,640 just apply to the individual, that applies to the family. 674 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:07,880 You can use the axe formula, right? 675 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:10,000 Adoration, confession, Thanksgiving, supplication. 676 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:12,000 But communication is always a two way St. 677 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:15,560 And so if you go to God's word, reading God's word, and God 678 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:18,480 illuminates truth of His word to you through His word, you must 679 00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:20,680 go back to Him in prayer. When you're reading God's Word, 680 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:25,640 Jeremiah 1025 says pour out your wrath on the nations that do not 681 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:29,840 know you and on the families that do not call your name. 682 00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:34,360 If you're not praying with your family, this verse applies to 683 00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:38,680 you. Sheraton Thomas Brooks said that 684 00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:42,200 the home without daily prayer, it's like a house without a 685 00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:45,720 roof, exposed to all the storms of heaven. 686 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:48,360 It's a tragedy. It's not pray. 687 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:49,880 So again, a couple tips in prayer. 688 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:52,800 Be brief. No lead, no, no need whatsoever 689 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:55,040 to drag this out for 1020 minutes. 690 00:32:55,160 --> 00:32:56,760 Be brief in your prayer with your kids. 691 00:32:57,560 --> 00:32:59,560 Secondly, be buried. Switch it up. 692 00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:01,240 Hey, you're going to pray for this today. 693 00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:02,920 I'm going to pray for this. Then you'll pray for this 694 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:04,400 tomorrow, we'll switch it up. You pray for this. 695 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:08,680 You pray for this. I pray for this 3rd have a list. 696 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:11,600 You need a list when you pray. I have a list with me every 697 00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:14,400 morning when I pray of people that I pray for in this church, 698 00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:17,920 at my work, at my school, you have to have a list that you can 699 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:19,240 go through and then you add to it. 700 00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:22,960 I'm, I'm a big user of pens. I think you should commit to 701 00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:24,920 your mistakes. But in my prayer journal, I use 702 00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:27,600 a pencil because the needs are always changing and I always 703 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:30,080 want to make sure that I'm able to pray for people as I should 704 00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:32,560 be. Give assignments again. 705 00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:34,720 This week I want you to pray for this person. 706 00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:37,360 This week, I want you to pray for this person when you come 707 00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:39,240 back. Hey, how did you do praying for 708 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:43,200 so and so this week and then follow up would be allowed to 709 00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:44,840 follow up with them throughout the week. 710 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:47,760 How's your prayer life coming? How has your prayer been for 711 00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:49,920 this individual? And these are awkward, hard 712 00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:51,880 conversations. I'm of course being a 713 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:54,520 communication major, all for face to face communication. 714 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:58,800 But you have phones. There is no excuse to not 715 00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:01,720 communicate with people. There's no excuse to now hold 716 00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:04,000 people accountable. It's discipline. 717 00:34:04,120 --> 00:34:06,120 That's it. Then the last thing, daily 718 00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:11,159 singing to the praises of God. Daily singing the praises of 719 00:34:11,159 --> 00:34:13,480 God. Psalm 118, verse 15 is a 720 00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:16,159 beautiful verse. This is the sound of joyful 721 00:34:16,159 --> 00:34:18,600 shouting. And salvation is in the tents of 722 00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:21,520 the righteous. The right hand of the Lord does 723 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:24,639 valiantly. Singing is done in the 724 00:34:24,639 --> 00:34:26,440 synagogues, but is also done in the tents. 725 00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:29,679 So the synagogues was the places of worship, but the households 726 00:34:29,679 --> 00:34:33,480 were in the tents and there was daily singing, daily joyful 727 00:34:33,480 --> 00:34:36,280 shouting from the tents that was heard from the families. 728 00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:39,239 Singing stays with you throughout the day. 729 00:34:39,679 --> 00:34:43,520 It's memorable. You should own a good hymn book 730 00:34:43,800 --> 00:34:45,800 or listen to Christian music with your kids throughout the 731 00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:47,840 day. It's incredibly memorable. 732 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:51,120 So again, tip #1 you should own a own a hymn book. 733 00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:55,159 Buy one online. We budget for other things. 734 00:34:55,159 --> 00:34:58,760 Budget for a hymn book. Secondly, sing songs that are 735 00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:01,560 doctrinally pure. We have a list here in the back. 736 00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:03,880 You guys can sign up to hear the songs that we sing every week. 737 00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:05,920 An e-mail gets sent out once a week. 738 00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:08,040 These are the songs we're singing on Sunday, and then you 739 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:10,320 can start to sing them with your kids in the car. 740 00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:12,280 We do for VBS, and those songs are annoying. 741 00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:14,400 These ones are fine. We come up here, we get the sing 742 00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:16,000 God's Word. You get the songs every single 743 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:17,520 week, and then you can sing those songs. 744 00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:22,720 Third, sing psalms. PSALMS, Psalms. 745 00:35:22,720 --> 00:35:27,280 John Calvin said that Psalms are anatomy of all parts of the soul 746 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:30,360 and other author said that they are the richest gold mine. 747 00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:34,600 A deep living experiential scriptural piety available to us 748 00:35:34,600 --> 00:35:38,520 today. And then forth sing heartily and 749 00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:42,720 with feeling, sing with passion. Biggest thing that keeps people 750 00:35:42,720 --> 00:35:44,520 from singing. My voice isn't very good. 751 00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:48,280 I can't do it. We had daily sunrise worship at 752 00:35:48,280 --> 00:35:51,800 our school and I sang with other guys at their teachers had to be 753 00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:53,400 there. So I walked up there and there's 754 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:56,840 other teachers there and I don't sound very good. 755 00:35:56,840 --> 00:35:58,440 I said, it's OK, man. I don't sound good either. 756 00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:00,840 So we both belted it out together, you know, And that 757 00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:03,160 encourage the other students to sing louder and then find their 758 00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:05,800 own voice to sing that the father and mother don't sing. 759 00:36:05,800 --> 00:36:06,920 The children are not going to sing. 760 00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:11,040 You got to sing passionately. So these are essential to to 761 00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:13,200 family growth. Again, these are Kingdom values. 762 00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:16,960 Why are they so important? Colonel Richard Husband was the 763 00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:21,520 pilot in the early 2000s of a spaceship, the Space Shuttle, 764 00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:24,880 specifically Space Shuttle Columbia, which was destroyed 765 00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:27,560 upon re entry in 2003. Some of you may remember it. 766 00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:29,480 I was only two years old, so I don't remember it. 767 00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:33,360 He died in February that year, 2003. 768 00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:37,120 We lost 7 astronauts that day. It was the day of mourning. 769 00:36:37,120 --> 00:36:40,360 And while he was a pilot, while he was on the space shuttle, 770 00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:42,640 what you probably didn't know about him was that he was a 771 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:46,760 devoted Christian man and that before he left, he handed his 772 00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:51,600 son and daughters 36 taped videos for the 18 days that he'd 773 00:36:51,600 --> 00:36:55,240 be gone, one to watch in the morning and 1:00 to watch at 774 00:36:55,240 --> 00:36:57,920 night. Imagine what those videos mean 775 00:36:57,920 --> 00:37:02,120 to that family now. So a couple of objections, 776 00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:03,600 because there always are objections. 777 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:06,440 I can't do this. And one reason is time. 778 00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:10,120 Busy schedules, families, not always together all the time. 779 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:14,400 Everyone has 24 hours. People, everyone has 24 hours. 780 00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:17,320 Time is not found. Time is made. 781 00:37:18,000 --> 00:37:20,520 And you make time for the things that are essential in your life. 782 00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:24,280 It is not an issue of time, it's an issue of priority. 783 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:26,880 We will do this before we go out tonight. 784 00:37:26,880 --> 00:37:28,720 We will do this before we leave school. 785 00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:31,680 Secondly, people say relationships. 786 00:37:31,680 --> 00:37:34,440 I'm single, I'm widowed, my family's not saved. 787 00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:38,360 I don't have a family of my own. Again, this relates to all 788 00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:40,360 believers. This pattern of family worship 789 00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:43,400 should be your pattern of daily devotion in reading, 790 00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:45,680 instructing, praying and singing. 791 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:48,920 You were all called to strengthen and support the 792 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:51,160 families around you to disciple the next generation. 793 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:52,800 The third one, that would be knowledge. 794 00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:54,080 People say I don't have enough knowledge. 795 00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:55,520 I can't do this. I don't have the knowledge to be 796 00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:58,240 able to do this properly or I'm not a teacher. 797 00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:00,720 Again, there are guides to help you, which I'm going to come to 798 00:38:00,720 --> 00:38:02,880 in a second, but the issue isn't knowledge. 799 00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:04,640 It's it's cowardness in that sense. 800 00:38:05,240 --> 00:38:07,440 Fourthly, people say I don't know where to start. 801 00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:10,840 My family's in shambles. I can't do this. 802 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:12,800 My, my, my kids won't want to do this. 803 00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:14,800 My wife doesn't want to do this. My husband doesn't want to do 804 00:38:14,800 --> 00:38:15,880 this. No one wants to do this to my 805 00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:18,480 family. Your household is not a 806 00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:21,520 democracy, and it's not a dictatorship either. 807 00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:25,360 Your household should be a theocracy, a house that is ruled 808 00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:29,560 by God, An audience of 1. So many people are paralysed by 809 00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:32,640 the fear of failure, of doing this with their family. 810 00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:34,600 If you don't fail, you're not even trying. 811 00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:38,480 If you want to achieve this style of family worship, you 812 00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:39,800 have to do something you've never done. 813 00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:42,640 If you want to achieve something you've never had, you have to do 814 00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:43,800 something that you've never done. 815 00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:48,200 So 2 great guides that I have for you today. 816 00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:49,920 If you want to learn more about them, we'll come back to the 817 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:51,040 service for more than welcome to. 818 00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:53,680 This is a great book called Raising spiritual champions been 819 00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:55,360 mentioned here before. It's a great book. 820 00:38:55,880 --> 00:38:58,720 This goes over children in some sense, how to raise children 821 00:38:58,720 --> 00:39:00,400 properly. This is good for anyone to know. 822 00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:02,680 If you're helping out VBS, these are good things to know. 823 00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:05,320 Second one is the the book by Joel Peak. 824 00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:06,720 It's called the family worship Bible guide. 825 00:39:06,720 --> 00:39:10,200 It's about 30 bucks on Amazon and it has commentary on every 826 00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:12,320 chapter in the Bible. So all you do is that you just 827 00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:15,200 read the chapter and then you read what he says. 828 00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:17,440 There's sometimes there's one question at the end, 2 829 00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:20,360 questions, three questions. You can sing the songs we have 830 00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:22,120 here in church and then pray with your family. 831 00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:26,400 The resources are there. The discipline is what we need 832 00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:29,480 and the discipline is hopefully brought by the stirring of the 833 00:39:29,480 --> 00:39:32,040 affection, the motivation. So there's a couple of last 834 00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:34,320 minute applications I think are important for your family. 835 00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:39,000 Number one, you have to have sacred time for family worship, 836 00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:43,600 a time in your day where nothing interrupts this portion of my 837 00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:46,120 day. My wife and I, we like to do 838 00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:49,960 something on Saturdays where between 12:00 and 5:00 we cannot 839 00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:51,920 be interrupted. We are together. 840 00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:54,880 We read God's Word, we read it separately, we read it together. 841 00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:58,440 Then we read a book that we have and then we pray together and 842 00:39:58,440 --> 00:40:00,480 that there's time where that is sacred time. 843 00:40:01,240 --> 00:40:03,880 If something urgent comes up, then we do it in the morning. 844 00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:06,360 But there has to be sacred time again. 845 00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:08,360 It's not found. It has to be made. 846 00:40:08,680 --> 00:40:11,200 Secondly, you have to establish a family mission. 847 00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:13,840 My wife and I did this back before we got married. 848 00:40:14,440 --> 00:40:16,400 And we wanted to come to the cross stick of my family name. 849 00:40:16,680 --> 00:40:19,680 Jessica Lovos in our church graciously gave us a nice framed 850 00:40:19,880 --> 00:40:22,120 portrait of it. But we wanted the Sparks 851 00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:24,480 household to consist of six things that when our children 852 00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:26,080 are raised, they know these six things. 853 00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:28,040 We have to be submissive to the Lord. 854 00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:30,160 We have to be practitioners of truth. 855 00:40:30,880 --> 00:40:32,520 We have to be all things to all people. 856 00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:34,880 We have to radiate with the joy of Christ. 857 00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:36,920 We have to be keepers of God's beauty. 858 00:40:37,320 --> 00:40:40,840 We have to safeguard the family. Those six things are what I want 859 00:40:40,840 --> 00:40:43,480 people to know, that our family, that our kids have values as 860 00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:46,200 they grow up. Even if you don't have a family, 861 00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:48,080 have a personal mission statement for yourself. 862 00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:52,080 Jim, Ron once said that you are the average sum of the five 863 00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:53,720 people you spend the most time with. 864 00:40:54,600 --> 00:40:56,960 Those five people, if you're not in the family, you're not 865 00:40:56,960 --> 00:40:59,400 married, are your family. The five people you spend the 866 00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:02,560 most time with are your family, especially if they are 867 00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:04,880 Christians, because that is a spiritual unity and a spiritual 868 00:41:04,880 --> 00:41:07,680 bond. Victor Frankel said that when a 869 00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:10,040 man can't find a deep sense of meaning, they distract 870 00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:12,760 themselves with pleasure. Don't be distracted with 871 00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:14,480 pleasure. Fight deep meaning that is 872 00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:16,200 rooted in God's Word. To have a family mission. 873 00:41:16,200 --> 00:41:18,480 This is what we do and this is how we act. 874 00:41:19,240 --> 00:41:21,800 Third thing, make family a hallmark of your life, a 875 00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:25,640 benchmark of your life. Be obsessed with the idea of 876 00:41:25,640 --> 00:41:30,120 family. The benefits of course, if in 877 00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:32,520 your marriage, marital smoothness, drawing in love, 878 00:41:32,520 --> 00:41:34,360 sharpening one another. And then if you're single 879 00:41:34,920 --> 00:41:38,280 benefits in this or a widow drawing in maturity, increasing 880 00:41:38,280 --> 00:41:40,720 and brotherly love and increasing and accountability 881 00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:45,600 for those around you. And lastly, the 4th point, 4th 882 00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:48,400 application, teach your family to fear the Lord. 883 00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:50,400 Teach your family to fear the Lord. 884 00:41:50,760 --> 00:41:54,600 George Barna has a great book where he outlines 7 things that 885 00:41:54,600 --> 00:41:56,880 kids need to know. He says they need to know 886 00:41:56,880 --> 00:42:00,720 there's one supreme being revealed in the Bible. 887 00:42:00,920 --> 00:42:03,280 All human beings are sinful by nature. 888 00:42:04,000 --> 00:42:06,320 The consequence that verse think could be forgiven and eliminated 889 00:42:06,320 --> 00:42:08,120 through Jesus Christ. The 4th. 1. 890 00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:11,440 The entire Bible is true and is the best moral guide for every 891 00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:15,800 person in all situations. 5th. The absolute truth, absolute 892 00:42:15,800 --> 00:42:19,680 moral truth exists and those truths are defined by God. 6th 893 00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:23,360 The ultimate purpose of human life is to know, love and serve 894 00:42:23,360 --> 00:42:25,240 God with all your heart, soul, might and strength. 895 00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:27,480 And then 7th. Success on earth is best 896 00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:30,640 understood as consistent obedience to God and he then he 897 00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:32,480 walks through all the statistics. 898 00:42:33,160 --> 00:42:36,280 If how many kids do not believe this anymore and how it is 899 00:42:36,280 --> 00:42:40,240 decreased because the family doesn't value these things you 900 00:42:40,240 --> 00:42:46,280 have to teach your family to fear the Lord in closing Psalm 901 00:42:46,720 --> 00:42:50,240 Chapter 11 verse one through 3 and the Lord I take refuge. 902 00:42:50,760 --> 00:42:53,720 How again, How then can you say my soul flee as a bird to your 903 00:42:53,720 --> 00:42:55,680 mountain? For behold the wicked bend the 904 00:42:55,680 --> 00:42:57,720 bone. They make ready their arrow upon 905 00:42:57,720 --> 00:43:01,120 the string to shoot in darkness at the upright in heart. 906 00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:04,800 So the the evil world is ready. They're ready to attack the 907 00:43:04,800 --> 00:43:07,280 family. And then verse three, if the 908 00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:10,920 foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? 909 00:43:12,000 --> 00:43:14,280 The foundation that has been given to you clearly is the 910 00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:17,960 family, both in the physical, biological and the spiritual 911 00:43:17,960 --> 00:43:20,280 supernatural sense has been given to you by God. 912 00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:24,320 So many people fall in love with the idea of the biblical family, 913 00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:27,440 but they don't fall in love with the habits that create for the 914 00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:30,280 biblical family. Don't fall in love with the idea 915 00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:32,480 of it, fall in love with the habits that create for that 916 00:43:32,480 --> 00:43:34,600 family. Use whatever it takes to get 917 00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:36,840 your family to wherever it needs to be. 918 00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:42,200 In an age where the family, the fact that church is weak, where 919 00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:45,120 do you stand? Your job husbands, your job 920 00:43:45,520 --> 00:43:49,160 mother's is to stand the gap for your family to intercede for 921 00:43:49,160 --> 00:43:53,000 your family on their behalf. Again, using whatever it takes 922 00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:54,640 to bring them to where it needs to be. 923 00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:56,520 And family worship is key to this. 924 00:43:57,320 --> 00:43:59,760 It is what creates the ripples that fuels the tidal waves to 925 00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:03,360 destroy false ideologies and hatred towards the biblical 926 00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:06,200 family. I had a student come up to me 927 00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:09,800 and ask me one time why I teach. I teach speech and debate. 928 00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:11,640 That's the main class, but another class that teaches the 929 00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:13,720 Bible nine class. And so she came to me and said, 930 00:44:13,880 --> 00:44:15,920 why do you teach Bible nine class? 931 00:44:16,720 --> 00:44:19,360 And how did you begin to do it? I said, well, I just applied and 932 00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:22,480 they accepted me. Oh, what? 933 00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:24,200 What are you like your qualifications? 934 00:44:26,920 --> 00:44:27,960 I don't have a teacher credential. 935 00:44:28,160 --> 00:44:30,440 Never been to seminary. I I don't have any. 936 00:44:31,160 --> 00:44:33,080 You've never been to seminary? No, I haven't. 937 00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:35,320 That was a surprise to him from a freshman student. 938 00:44:35,320 --> 00:44:38,400 And she said, so how did you get this job? 939 00:44:38,960 --> 00:44:40,680 By the grace of God, I have no idea. 940 00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:42,880 But I know that I got this job because when I sat down in the 941 00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:45,200 interview, I looked at the principal that in the eyes and I 942 00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:48,400 said my job is to teach the whole student to practice truth. 943 00:44:49,160 --> 00:44:52,120 And that that's why I do what I do, to teach the entire student 944 00:44:52,320 --> 00:44:56,640 to practice truth. And in speech I tell my students 945 00:44:56,640 --> 00:45:00,360 again and again, you never have any idea how powerful your words 946 00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:02,400 are to your family and to those around you. 947 00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:07,240 That same student came up later and asked then, then why? 948 00:45:07,240 --> 00:45:09,600 Why do you do this job? Now I know how you got it, but 949 00:45:09,600 --> 00:45:12,440 why do you do this job? Because I believe that truth 950 00:45:12,440 --> 00:45:15,400 will save the world. The truth of Christ will save 951 00:45:15,400 --> 00:45:18,040 this world. It is the only thing that can 952 00:45:18,040 --> 00:45:19,760 save loss sinners like it did for me. 953 00:45:23,720 --> 00:45:27,520 It is life, and if you think I'm wrong, then you are too 954 00:45:27,520 --> 00:45:31,520 protected and too naive to have any idea for how this world is 955 00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:33,600 even constituted and constructed. 956 00:45:35,240 --> 00:45:38,560 There is suffering in this world and that can be ameliorated or 957 00:45:38,560 --> 00:45:42,680 done away with through the words that we use in our personal and 958 00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:44,960 our corporate life and our family worship that we do. 959 00:45:47,600 --> 00:45:50,160 I think if a student, a different one, that came to me 960 00:45:50,160 --> 00:45:52,240 and said, Mr. Sparks, could you help me write a speech? 961 00:45:52,560 --> 00:45:55,520 She was my Bible nine student. I said yeah, I can do that. 962 00:45:56,640 --> 00:45:58,400 So I asked some questions, what is the purpose? 963 00:45:58,400 --> 00:46:01,760 And she said I'm speaking at my parents divorce hearing. 964 00:46:02,440 --> 00:46:03,920 I need you to help me write a speech for that. 965 00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:07,960 That was the hardest speech I've ever written and helped a 966 00:46:07,960 --> 00:46:11,160 student through. To think the pain that can have 967 00:46:11,160 --> 00:46:15,040 been done away with if this family did worship together, if 968 00:46:15,040 --> 00:46:18,440 the father grabbed his daughter and said let's sit down, let's 969 00:46:18,480 --> 00:46:21,480 read God's word, let's be instructed by God's word, let's 970 00:46:21,480 --> 00:46:25,320 pray after God's word, let's sing praises to God in His Word. 971 00:46:26,440 --> 00:46:28,840 These words that we use are not vain, useless things. 972 00:46:28,840 --> 00:46:32,280 They are who we are. As Luke 645 says, what comes out 973 00:46:32,280 --> 00:46:36,600 of us are these words. So yes, I believe that truth 974 00:46:36,600 --> 00:46:40,040 will save the world and it's our job and everyone's job to 975 00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:42,120 support that. Especially in our families. 976 00:46:43,160 --> 00:46:46,160 We have to speak the truth. A lot of men shout boldly, I 977 00:46:46,160 --> 00:46:48,440 will die for my family and that's great. 978 00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:51,640 But will you change your habits for your family? 979 00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:54,000 Will you do family worship for your family? 980 00:46:54,600 --> 00:46:57,400 Will you change your unhealthy habits for your family? 981 00:46:57,680 --> 00:47:02,040 Start to live for your family. Your greatest challenge is in 982 00:47:02,040 --> 00:47:05,120 anything else other than to believe in Jesus Christ and the 983 00:47:05,120 --> 00:47:08,000 gospel, to believe that Jesus Christ is God. 984 00:47:08,200 --> 00:47:11,320 Could it be that there is a God that died for your sins and your 985 00:47:11,320 --> 00:47:13,240 job is to communicate that with your family? 986 00:47:13,440 --> 00:47:16,080 You must teach this to your children and there is no 987 00:47:16,080 --> 00:47:17,840 formula. Your own discipline, your own 988 00:47:17,840 --> 00:47:20,600 devotion, your own good works will not save your life will not 989 00:47:20,600 --> 00:47:22,480 save your marriage, will not set you free. 990 00:47:22,600 --> 00:47:24,920 There's only one, and it's Jesus Christ. 991 00:47:25,240 --> 00:47:26,600 It's the one who took your place. 992 00:47:26,880 --> 00:47:29,960 He's the one who stood silently on that platform as Barabbas 993 00:47:29,960 --> 00:47:32,120 walked down and he died for your sins. 994 00:47:32,480 --> 00:47:34,520 We are that Barabbas that walks down. 995 00:47:34,680 --> 00:47:36,480 Barabbas never thanked Christ for doing that. 996 00:47:37,160 --> 00:47:39,680 We are saved by the blood of Christ. 997 00:47:40,400 --> 00:47:42,720 He is the one that we live and the one who we do it for. 998 00:47:42,720 --> 00:47:45,640 There's only one. It is still Jesus. 999 00:47:45,640 --> 00:47:48,040 It'll always be Jesus. It'll never stop being the power 1000 00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:50,560 of Jesus. His blood is sufficient to save 1001 00:47:50,560 --> 00:47:53,040 you, and His power is great enough to sustain you through 1002 00:47:53,040 --> 00:47:55,320 every trial, through every storm, and through every 1003 00:47:55,320 --> 00:47:58,040 tribulation. So pursue the truth, have an 1004 00:47:58,040 --> 00:48:01,240 adventure, stand up straight, articulate yourself, love with 1005 00:48:01,240 --> 00:48:03,920 your whole soul, forgive as your Savior has forgiven you. 1006 00:48:04,160 --> 00:48:07,320 Understand your calling. Live with exuberant passion, 1007 00:48:07,520 --> 00:48:09,880 fear the Lord, keep His commandments. 1008 00:48:10,040 --> 00:48:13,320 Do family worship, for this is the whole end of man. 1009 00:48:13,440 --> 00:48:16,800 And for this we labor for the glory of our Savior, Jesus 1010 00:48:16,800 --> 00:48:17,880 Christ. Let's pray. 1011 00:48:19,760 --> 00:48:20,920 God, we thank you for this morning. 1012 00:48:20,920 --> 00:48:22,840 We thank you for the opportunity we had to be able to come before 1013 00:48:22,840 --> 00:48:25,560 you and discuss the importance in matter of family worship. 1014 00:48:26,680 --> 00:48:29,440 You are such a good God and we are so thankful for this 1015 00:48:29,440 --> 00:48:31,920 institution of family that you've given to us for us to 1016 00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:34,600 understand what we need to do and how we need to live and how 1017 00:48:34,600 --> 00:48:37,760 we need to act good. I thank you for the families 1018 00:48:37,760 --> 00:48:39,800 that we have in this church. I thank you for those that are 1019 00:48:39,800 --> 00:48:42,280 single in this church, for those that are widowed in this church, 1020 00:48:42,280 --> 00:48:45,040 for the children of parents and families in this church. 1021 00:48:45,040 --> 00:48:48,040 God, I pray that every individual in here would see the 1022 00:48:48,040 --> 00:48:54,400 necessity of family and why this goes beyond a physical family. 1023 00:48:54,640 --> 00:48:57,680 It's because we have a spiritual family, Father, that that is how 1024 00:48:57,680 --> 00:49:01,960 you communicate to us as Father and Son, as Bride and 1025 00:49:01,960 --> 00:49:04,120 bridegroom. But I pray that we'd be able to 1026 00:49:04,120 --> 00:49:08,360 picture this each and every day to a world, to the picture, that 1027 00:49:08,360 --> 00:49:11,000 the family is a divine institution and that the daily 1028 00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:13,560 reading of Your Word, the daily instruction of Your Word, daily 1029 00:49:13,560 --> 00:49:17,240 prayer before Your throne, and the daily singing to the praises 1030 00:49:17,240 --> 00:49:20,200 of Your glorious name would be something that is forever on our 1031 00:49:20,200 --> 00:49:23,800 mind. I pray that as a day drawn draws 1032 00:49:23,800 --> 00:49:25,960 near of your virtue, Lord, that we'd be found faithful. 1033 00:49:27,200 --> 00:49:29,920 That is, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. 1034 00:49:29,920 --> 00:49:34,200 Lord, I pray that each and every family in here would be bowing 1035 00:49:34,200 --> 00:49:37,400 the knee and confessing daily before the throne of grace. 1036 00:49:37,400 --> 00:49:41,880 God, we pray that this would be a daily habit of our families, 1037 00:49:41,880 --> 00:49:44,240 the OR the daily habits of ordinary households. 1038 00:49:44,240 --> 00:49:47,920 God, we pray that this would be some that would transform the 1039 00:49:47,920 --> 00:49:50,080 family. They would see the necessity of 1040 00:49:50,080 --> 00:49:52,800 doing something that has been here all along, that the 1041 00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:55,520 motivation has been given that what lies next is a discipline 1042 00:49:55,520 --> 00:49:57,040 to do it properly each and every day. 1043 00:49:57,520 --> 00:50:00,920 We pray that You give us grace to do that to God our Creator 1044 00:50:00,920 --> 00:50:03,960 and Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, by the power of the 1045 00:50:03,960 --> 00:50:07,240 Holy Spirit, be all glory, majesty, demeaning, and 1046 00:50:07,240 --> 00:50:10,680 authority before all time, now and forever. 1047 00:50:11,080 --> 00:50:11,400 Amen.