This recording is from Christ Kingdom Church in Avalon Park, Orlando. Visit us online at ChristKingdom.org for our calendar, driving directions, and more audio recordings. Good morning. Good morning again. Come on, help me out now. Good morning. That's a little better. Thank you. Kinko's computer lab was shut down this morning. So we are totally digital. And hopefully this music stand, your job, Nathan, if this starts to fall, is to catch it. So hopefully that won't happen there. We are continuing in our series on Resurrected Life. And hopefully you have one of these inside your bulletin here. You can pull that out. I see somebody standing by the way. Again the AC was turned on late here this morning. We're hoping that's going to get caught up as well too. And by the way, since I didn't have all my stuff, I could print out here. Jerry does not have a cheat sheet and guiding the media shout this morning. So Vigracist there with that too. He's going to try to follow on Bestie Ken with the visual on the screen. But I think you'll be fine. This will be a helpful tool as well inside. If you want to take notes here this morning, you just want to draw that to your attention. That might be a helpful tool. Let me say before I start off anything more though about this topic of parenting. They're right off the bat. You realize that I am not one that's sitting at the finish line. Even though I'm a parent of six children going, it's easy. Not at all. I'm a fellow pilgrim with each of you who is finding myself trying to get my way out of ditches sometimes and parenting, feeling like sometimes are on a mountain top. Yeah, something worked or whatever else. But I'm in the trenches with you. And I'm not speaking this morning from a place of, you know, having arrived or done it perfect or right or anything close to that. And I have six kids. If you ask them, I'll tell you there's nothing close to perfect at all. But I want to tell you this morning with conviction. What I share with you is what I honestly believe. God's Word instructs us and tells us to do. And the little bit where I have applied it well at times in my life, I've seen it reap a harvest of blessing and fruitfulness in my life. And when I shift with our kids, the Lord and I have. So this morning realize that as we look at that here this morning as well. We talked last week about marriage. We talked about the importance that this whole resurrection idea is that Jesus, when he died on the cross, invites us to come and share in that death. Meaning something inside of us, if we are followers of Jesus Christ, we willingly come and die too. Our own way of doing things, our own fleshly selfish desires. We're dying to. We're identifying with the death on the cross of Jesus. We're saying, Jesus, your death on the cross was there to pay the penalty for sins of my self-centeredness. And so we willingly, if we're a follower of Christ, say, I'm going to die to that part of myself. And as Christ on the third day rose from the dead, we're saying that we are trusting in that Jesus Christ showed his power over death. By dying on the cross and rising on the third day, we are given new life as well too, to live as new creatures in Christ, the Bible says. That is what is rising up inside of us, is the reality of the life of Christ. So that's why we're using this idea and talking about resurrecting, is that this is the point. God didn't just die on the cross by sending his son so that, okay, you want to be held accountable for these sinful desires of yours, for your selfishness and self-centeredness. But no, he died on the cross that you could live a different life and be a different person. And what's sad today is so many of us are just contented for followers of Christ, just to say, I'm just glad I'm forgiven. Whew! That's a load off my back. But we fail to remember that three days later, Jesus rose from the dead. And second Corinthians tells us that you are new creatures in Christ. The oldest passed away, the newest come. Don't just be content to let the old past away be excited about the new coming. Look to Christ and see how that applies in your life and parenting. I know some of you this morning are saying, well, I'm not a parent yet. Well, you might be one day. And some of you are thinking, well, I was a parent about not anymore. But many of you might be grandparents. You don't know how you're going to be playing out in this role or even if you haven't been a parent at all, not a grandparent at all. Don't see there anyway, it's going to happen. You're in a church where we take vows to serve and support each other and raising their kids. You're God parents out there. You have involvement in the lives of young people. So this applies to everybody in some way, shape or form. So anyway, having said that, I don't know if any of you were following along in the news this week, especially if you're interested in football and sports. But a dream that all of us have sometimes is to be able to go back and do it all over, right? You might see that happening. Things to school in Texas, eastern versus Phillipsburg football, a rematch. This here in this small town, I think we have a picture on the next slide. These two schools here in this small community, small town with blue collar workers. Football season is huge, it's big. It's what they live for in the fall. But what happened was the unforgettable. Some 16 years ago, the two big rival high schools, the highlight, the biggest game, Thanksgiving Week in every single year, ended in a tie. They call it the Kissing Your Sister game, where it's just an account. Who wants to end the game in a tie? It's the only time it's ever happened. This was before they had, you know, after over, what's the word? Over time, ways to settle scores. This was before that was introduced at the time there. So it had to be ended in a tie. Well, Gatorade, no doubt wanting to make some marketing off of this as well, is decided to do a rematch with the exact same players 16 years earlier. That's the unique part. These are actually some of the pictures you can see. These guys look like they're NFL kind of guys, age-wise. Well, they're not NFL guys. They're guys that have just been in the workforce now for some 16 years now. They're losing weight. They had eight weeks to get ready. The game is this afternoon, by the way, so I don't know what's going to happen with it, but there's a lot of hype to it. But in that, an awesome opportunity to get to go back and find out and really settle it. You don't have that luxury, though, in parenting. You've got maybe 18 years or so to invest in the life of a child, a child that God's given you. And as fun and as awesome as that is, I think, yeah, it'll do that. It's not going to happen in parenting. And I say that right from the beginning to say, this is an important time. You don't want to waste it. You want to take advantage of it. You want to be faithful in doing that. That's why it's so important. So right now, I want to read our primary text from the book of Acts chapter two. I think it's printed on that back of that sheet as well, too. Verses 29 through 41. Let me tell you just real quick the context here. The Holy Spirit has just been poured out for the first time as Jesus had promised after He left. Hey, He said, it's good for me to go to the Father because if I go, the Holy Spirit will come. Wait for it. They've been praying. They've been waiting for it. Well, the Holy Spirit comes and Peter filled with the Holy Spirit for the first time like this, gives an incredible sermon. And we're picking up partway through this. But I want to hear you here. I want you to hear how he talks about the power of the resurrection. And I want to hear where you see the one time he mentions children and the significance of it in this text. Acts chapter two, verse 29 through 41. This is God's holy and inspired word. Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the Patriarch David died and was buried and his tomb is here to this day. But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on the throne. Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave. Nor did his body see decay. God has raised this Jesus to life and we are witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he is received from the Father, the promised Holy Spirit, and it has poured out what you now see in here. For David did not ascend to heaven and yet he said, the Lord said to my Lord, sit in my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this. God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter, and the other apostles, brothers, what shall we do? Peter replied, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, for all who the Lord, our God will call. With many other words, he warned them and he pleaded with them, save yourselves from this corrupt generation. Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3,000 were added to their number that day. What children are only mentioned once in this entire passage, but ever so important, and we talk about as every time we baptize children here in our church. The promise is to you and to your children.
It's a promise not just for you as parents to hold to and clean through, but it's something that you're supposed to pass along because God's really into kids. He really likes children. Remember Jesus when they came and the people were trying to get Jesus to bless their children and the apostles were saying, hey, he's a busy guy. I don't have time for that. He rebuked them. He said, no, let the children come. Jesus is really into children. He wants them to come. He wants to bless them. And more than just to be a nice figure in their lives, he wants to save them from themselves, from a self-centered life. He wants them to know of his forgiveness. He wants them to know that there's a God in heaven that loves them unconditionally. He wants to see them and be with them for all eternity. That's his passion for that. So I want you to realize right here that we talk about the promise. The promise is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. In fact, 2 Corinthians 1.20 says this. It says no matter how many promises God has made, they are yes or answered yes in Christ. The battle says quite plainly, every promise that God has ever made ultimately is answered in Christ. In Christ is what our children need. The promise is for you to believe in Jesus Christ, but also to your children. It is the point of parenting, despite what you've read or heard, anything to the contrary. The goal of parenting in its perfection is to point our children to the promise who is Jesus Christ. Well, that's what we're supposed to do. How are we supposed to do that? Let me use a second primary passage which we'll use for the rest of the morning. Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 4 through 9. I think that's also on that insert. I think it'll be on the screen as well too. All right, if that's what we're supposed to do, give this promise to our children. How are we supposed to do it? Let's look from an Old Testament passage that tells us that. Chapter 6, verses 4 through 9. God's word again. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God, but all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, when you get up, tie them as symbols on your hands and mine them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. That's God's holy and inspired word. Well, I want to give you two priorities to parenting this morning. Just two. And under each we're going to talk about some arsenals, some tools that God's giving you, under each. The first priority this morning, parenting priority number one, is keep the promise upon your heart. Keep the promise, remember which is Christ, which is what Christ comes to offer, which is this resurrected life. Keep the promise on your heart. Now, understand here, if you skip step one, you're going to distort step two, which we'll talk about in a few minutes, or maybe miss it all together, or you're going to certainly misapply it, and you won't feel it to its full benefit. You cannot skip step number one, because God is saying this is where it begins, as He said in this passage in Deuteronomy. These commandments that I give you today, parents, are to be upon your hearts. That's priority number one. So let's look at God's arsenal here, how does He tell us, how does He equip us to do that? Well, several ways. Number one, reflection and meditation on God in His Word with prayer. Reflection and meditation on God in His Word with prayer. You know, the same type of word used for meditation in the Old Testament is the same kind of word that we use in associate with the idea of like an animal that would be like a cow, would be chewing His cut, just non-over on something, over and over again, working it. Kids, it's like you chewing gum, that same piece of gum that makes it all the way through an entire day, and nobody knows how it possibly could have been so nasty. You know, you're chewing on it, you're not on it, you're squeezing every single bit of juicy fruit flavor, you can get out of it. God's giving you a word in this when He talks about an Old Testament, tells us to meditate upon His Word, He tells us that over and over again. It's the reflection and meditation on God in His Word, and meditate on that. I had a handout, I was going to give you, which I'll have to email out to those that have an email address for. So I'll try to get that out to your post on our webpage, but I had a whole list that has just verses that talk about parenting. And I'm going to try to get that to you, even though it can do it this morning. But spend time regularly feeding your heart on Christ and fulfilling yourself in Him and His promises. That's where it's got to begin. Second thing in your arsenal, gospel living, gospel living. What do I mean by that? Well, I mean what Colossians 2.6 tells us says, just as you receive Christ, so walk in Him, so live your life in Him. And how did you receive Christ? Well, the first thing you did is you came and you realized that you couldn't do it on your own. You couldn't be good enough to earn your way to heaven. And if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, that's what it means to come to step one, is to realize your need for Christ and that you can't get there on your own. So it means that you're daily rejecting self-righteousness, and it means you're claiming to the hope that Christ is the one that satisfies the demands of the law before the Father for you. He's the one that was perfect. He's the one that you're trusting in that is righteous before God and that if Jesus takes your place on the cross, He takes your sin and you take His righteousness. That's the gospel, but we're told to live in that. And you know what, if you live as a parent, rejecting self-righteousness and you're cleaning to the righteousness, not of yourself but of Jesus Christ, some of your parents are already putting this together, that would change the way you go about parenting in many scenarios, wouldn't it? Like how you feel when your child may be embarrassed as you're in public sometimes. Total different motivations sometimes can come up or a total different response would be a vote, depending on if you have that kind of viewpoint. Remember God says the first priority is let the promise rest on your heart and that involves gospel living. Our teens can sniff out self-righteousness very fast. Elementary school students, not so much, but when they get to be a teenager they can sniff it. They see it in themselves and they can see it in us. We need to be constantly living lives that are rejecting that. Number three, Arsenal under that, a church community. I'm not saying just any community, I'm saying a church community. I'm saying other followers of Jesus Christ. For example, some of you like me are trying to work on getting in better shape in your life and for me I'm involved in the YMCA trying to do things. But there's a very big difference between going up there by myself and jumping on a spinning bike and going to one of the spinning classes. What is the difference? Well look how much I'm going to perspire between the two. Look at the difference, how long I'm going to go between the two classes. It will be totally different because when I have an instructor and I have somebody that's there to coach me, I'm going to push myself harder. When I have friends, like I meet some of you there sometimes for spin class, but I know they're going to be there and if I don't show up, I'm going to have to get flack for it. There's accountability, there's a support there. You can't successfully do things like make a huge transition in your life without the help of people around you. It's just the reality of life. You can't do parenting on your own and if you think you can, you're wrong. Don't do it alone. Find others to be a part of a community people that are also trying to impress the promise of Christ on their own heart first. The fourth and final tool under parenting priority number one is authenticity. Authenticity in your home. One of the things I still treasure and remember most about my dad who has been dead almost nine years now from cancer is the fact that he had the ability to be able to admit it when he was wrong. And to ask his children who are submissive to him, forgive him sometimes when he had made mistakes. And that's something that's still today that is a legacy that's been passed on to me. You know what? I've seen a real parent be humble and be willing to do that even though he didn't have to be. Even though he was humiliating maybe him sometimes to ask his eight year old and say he was sorry he was wrong without forgiveness. But it made an impression that this was an authentic faith that my dad and my mom had as well. It wasn't something they were just putting on and dressing up for on Sunday mornings because that's what you do. Authenticity is huge in this and let me say this to the degree that you practice this whole priority number one including authenticity to that same degree will be the ability that you have to follow priority number two. Which is what we're going to go to right now. It begins with keeping the promise on your own heart parents. But number two, the second parenting priority is to impress the promise upon their hearts. Look at the phraseology and the terminology here in Deuteronomy 6. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts but what impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and you walk along the road. When you lie down and when you get up parentheses not just on Sunday mornings parentheses not just Christmas Eve. parentheses not just at Easter brunch tied them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads right them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. Parenting priority number two is impress the promise upon their hearts in a way that's consistent in a way that's fervent in a way that's applicable. That's what it means to be doing it all the time and everywhere. Show your children how it's relevant how they need the reality of Jesus Christ. True story one time is that a bunch of military recruiters came to a high school campus. They had like some kind of window to talk to the students and try to impress upon them. The great value it would be to come and join and serve your country and join the military forces and how you can help pay your way through school and all kinds of different things. So of course you know they each had their kind of like little five-minute spiel to get up there and you got the army guy gets up there he's the recruiter he goes and tells his puts his spiel on things about all the exciting things you can do in the army and how each of them could be a part of it. Well of course the navy guy is not going to be shown up any army guy he gets up there and does his own spiel to and talks about the unique things that you can do in a navy that you can't do the army and how they want to be a part of that you know have a lot more fun and be a lot more useful. And of course the Air Force guys like hey all right I'm up for the challenge he gets up and does his whole spiel on it. Did he get to the marine recruiter? Marine Cruder comes up being totally you know upset and disrupted by the whole presentation that's happened already and gets up there and just says you know looking around here I don't think I see a single one of you that's up for the challenge of being a marine thank you goes back and sits down. Well the plan was after the little orientation presentation time was to allow the kids to have time to visit each booth and get more information. Well there are three booths that had nobody in line and there was one booth that had a very very long line. Why? Because children kids teenagers want to be challenged. They want to be called up to something that's a higher thing. They want to know that there's something that you're laying out before them that you want them to attain but they've got to want it and you'll help them but they've got to want it. Kids want that. I mean think about it I mean I've been amazed as a popcorn football coach how you can get kids who you know if you tell me hey you got to get out and cut the grass you know they might give you a whole list of excuses. Or you got to tell them hey we're going to have to work in the art of her today you're going to get out and you're going to be sweaty. And they have all the reasons why they don't want to do that and it's not their favorite thing to do but who will give you two and a half to three hours money night Tuesday night in Thursday night until the football games begin Saturday morning in grueling heat to run sprints to do push ups to hit on each other to tackle each other to get dirty and cut some bruises. Why because there's a thought of greatness there's a thought of this meaning something there's something deep inside them that knows that this coach could take them to a place that they couldn't do on their own. So therefore they'll willingly put up with that kind of a grueling schedule with that kids want to be challenged so as we look at these things here parents come alive. Raise the bar use the arsenal that God's given you as we'll talk about some of those right now how impressed these promises upon the hearts of your children number one and God's arsenal modeling number one modeling. Colossus 321 says this says fathers do not embed your children or they will become discouraged. What does that mean? I think it means and it's for moms to but fathers are the head of the household God you know dads moms don't ask something of your children and live your life in such a way that says something completely different that frustrates that that embitters them. That makes them think you know you don't really believe this stuff that you're telling me why are you putting the pressure on me. Don't live a life that's not worthy of model and emulation is why I can guarantee you if they might make it through 18 years doing what you tell them to do age 19 and on they will do what you did they will model you. And by the way they'll raise their children the same way you raise them perpetuating the cycle of sin and self-centeredness. Fathers do not embed your children don't hold them to a higher different standard than yourself. Let me be clear here too it's not perfection when I say modeling it's not live this perfect life that if they could be just like you they would be fine and set to go. No because that's not reality is it. Those of you who are married your spouse will tell you it's not a reality right your good friends will tell you now you're a nice guy you're a nice lady but you're not perfect. Deep down your heart you know you're not perfect. We must review priority number one gospel living. Turning away from my self-righteousness is looking to Christ's righteousness so modeling is not being a perfect parent modeling is willingly displaying your need for Christ in front of your children. Asking their forgiveness challenging them sharing them what God's teaching in your life and how you're applying it letting them see you sweat. For example if you think you know God's called us to give faithfully where he's called us to our church or wherever we're going to do it anyway even though we're not sure how we're going to pay the rest of the bills this month. Share that kind of stuff with your kids you're like wow you really believe this God that you're talking about to me don't you mom or dad. It's that kind of stuff it's an authentic faith. One of each of these want to give you an application and a question to ask yourself here's a quick application under modeling apologize here's what we can do apologize sincerely to your children when you wrong them and let them see you apologize sincerely to others especially your spouse. There's one practical application not the only application just want to give you one let them see you apologize to them and to others. Because then you will be showing them that you have a need and let them see you looking to Christ to be your source of forgiveness here's a question to ask yourself do my children see me desperately clinging to the promise. Jesus Christ do your children see that ask yourselves that impress the promise upon their hearts through modeling Arsenal weapon number two providing. It's 11 11 through 13 says this which of you fathers if your son asked for a fish will give him a snake instead or if he asked for an egg will give him a scorpion if you then though you are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more well your father in heaven give the Holy spirit to those who ask him now this primary context is talking about going to God and ask him as a father but it gives you the example. Of what dads do what moms do they provide for the children they give them what they need. Yeah okay maybe they asked for a cupcake and they give them a good turkey sandwich instead but they provide their needs don't they because they know what they need but what's interesting here is how God chooses to provide for us as a father in heaven. Let's look at real quick three provisions for our children three ways God wants us to do this one that's often neglected but which is first and mentioned here in this text is give them what they need most and that's a relationship with a loving parent. Do you guys that's what your children need most from you mom or from you dad or future mom feature dad or grand mom grand dad they need you notice what God says he is a father in heaven will give you. Your father in heaven will give you the Holy Spirit to those who ask him who's the Holy Spirit his presence that goes with them and in dwells them the spirit of Jesus Christ. He's going to give them part of him and who he is which he says is a down payment of things to come by the way meaning it's going to get better in heaven. That's what God gives us as a perfect father. Parents give your children what they need to be provided for most and that is a relationship with you don't neglect that. I remember just this past past week I kept I was home with two of my kids a recent Davis and I was a part of my day off there and I was just hanging out there. Of course I had my list of things to get done they kept bugging me to play Legos so I gave my normal answer which was you know well you know I'm going to do this this and that and then I'll you know I'll try to come join you guys you guys go and start playing. But after a few minutes I just realized that you know I do this a lot with them and it's been a long time since I got down and we did Legos. So I got down decided to and just we played Legos for probably one or two hours and I had a ball with them and I realized I was doing more than just playing Legos and by the way I built a really cool car like thing. So I wish I had a picture of that I think I think I got demolished but anyway that was I had a really cool time with that and you know what there was some connection there between me and a couple of my boys that was super special. Because you know I gave them a little part of me and I wish I could say a ton of examples like that but not nearly as many as I need but do you have some are you investing yourselves are you doing it more working more towards that. Number one of what your kids need provided for them is you. Number two many food shelter clothes and all that kind of stuff and I'm on the bed the most you parents are doing pretty good with that. Now you missed priority number one but most of you pretty well on priority number two but we don't do so good on priority number three either giving our kids but they need and that's truth things like godly character things like wisdom. These are very important things that your kids need and next to giving them food to eat in a place to lay their head at night and having already given of yourself to them next on your list ought to be things like character and integrity and wisdom. Above having fun. Above having cool stuff in the room. Above going on really fun family vacations and I think those things are important and that you shouldn't do those things saying just don't get the balance out of whack. You know one of the things and we actually the group of pastors and churches we actually wrote an article will be coming out the next Easter land of sun edition I think in in May on this whole issue of investment in the lives of our kids. The things that we've seen as pastors all 13 of us in the area is how parents and I get can get sucked in this too like any of you have gotten so absorbed in our community here into youth extracurricular activities. Now I know about this step on some toes okay but if your toes are about to get run off by an incoming subway train once my step on ahead of time and I'm just telling us we have got to rethink some of the things that we're doing when it comes to extracurricular activities. You know that children and teens are getting less sleep now than they did 10-20 years ago. They're more tired, they're more fatigued. Studies show that as far as extracurricular activities especially sports most kids stay with it longer than they wanted to because mom and dad made them or made them feel like they were not being tough enough if they didn't. Do you know that the number of violent activity that happens at youth sporting events not on the field or on the court but in the stands through parents is been skyrocketing over the last couple of decades. There is something dreadfully wrong when we think that our kids you know having having a shot for that American Idol having a challenge having a shot to be on that all star team is more important than investing in their lives to make sure they're ready for the real challenges of life. That every single one of them are going to face. Some might be professional athletes and they might have some challenges to face there. Yeah, you need to know how to work as a team and do all that kind of stuff but every single kid is going to have to wrestle with. What do I do when I'm tempted to steal in my place of employment and not give the full hours I'm supposed to give because I'm sucking it off somewhere else. What am I going to do when I have temptation on the internet and around me your kids have some real if they haven't already hit it already some real struggles coming ahead. But we're going to pour hours and hours into youth extracurricular activities and we're not going to give as much emphasis to things like church youth group to things like attendance at church. One of the few places where they get fed into a things like being involved in an establishment group whether it's at church with a student venture or some of the other opportunities you have will bend over backwards as parents to make everything else happen for them. But what about that church retreat coming up where they're going to really get a chance to get invested to important in their lives and can't see encounter God. Jason doesn't know I was going to bring up any of this or talk about any of this but there is a serious problem in our community and I'm struggling with it as well too. What are you going to do as a parent to provide for your children to make sure that things they need most in life are getting poured into and investing in them. I'm not saying given up the activities I'm saying rethink it be a parent there to provide for them and protect for them. You're a parent you're not a genie your desire and goal in life is not to give them their three wishes to give them the tools they need to make it in life to introduce them to Christ. Well, impress the promise upon their hearts through providing number three arsenal tool teaching. Proverbs 22 6 says this train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it. Matthew 18, me 28, Jesus in the Great Commission tells them that along with making disciples he says and teach them to obey everything I've commanded you. Parents, who is the number one disciple in your life? Who? Not a trick question, not a trick question. Who is the number one disciple parent in your life? Somebody say it, please. Your kids, your children. Be a part of reaching the world but if you don't reach all the bedrooms in your house, you fail to the Great Commission. Reach the bedrooms in your house as you reach in the world. Go teach your children, train them. We're commanded by God to do that. It's important. Jesus says teach our disciples everything he's commanded them. Let me real quick make the difference between knowledge and wisdom too. Knowledge is God's clearly taught will that we can read about in the scriptures and your kids need to hear that you can help them have Bible knowledge. They should know what the ten commandments are. They should know that it's wrong to be involved with sexual morality and you better tell them what that means. Because by the way there's really bizarre definitions of what that means in our culture here today. By God's standard, get the need knowledge. But you know what they need just as much as knowledge. They need wisdom. Probably more so because it gets neglected. What is wisdom? Wisdom is discerning God's will in a complex situation of life where there aren't exact biblical principles to apply. Like, what kind of career is God calling you to? Well, you can't flip open your Bible and go. He's calling me to be a fisherman. Okay? No. They have to apply wisdom. Who is God called you to marry? And what should you be looking for in a future husband or wife? Well, you just can't flip through there and go. I think her name is Mary. Can you? No, you've got to use wisdom. You've got to take them. They've got to be able to apply the word of God. One example I know too is like for us was in when we let our kids watch certain movies, watch them with them. And when the movie is over, get a chance to talk to them about it. Ask them questions like this about, you know, what about that show or movie was good and true to God's word? And then what was it? Help them articulate. Well, you know, they kind of showed that this was true. Say, yeah, that's right. But where are the lies? Help them identify that. That's teaching. That's training. Application. Stay checked in while watching a TV show or a movie with your child. You got to watch it with them and ask them afterwards questions like that. Here's a question to ask yourself. Am I the primary teacher in my child's life or someone or something else? Press the promise upon their hearts. That'll be quickly now number four, correcting the fourth in our arsenal. Proper's 22 15 says this. Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him. I think about what that means. Folly is bound up in the heart of child. Something bad is natural in every heart of every single person that's born. It wasn't yours when you were a child, and if you are a kid, it's still there. It's still there in all of us. There is Folly that's bound up that we need discipline to drive from it. Proverbs 23 13 through 14 says this. Do not withhold discipline from a child. If you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death. Now the rod is just one way to discipline children, but we're called to discipline them. Several ways we do that, admonishing them, making sure you tell them, hey, what about that? What just happened there? You think that was right? Probably not. Let them know. You need to impose sometimes consequences on them. Impose consequences means things like a time out or a spanking or restriction or grounding. But you also, as they get older, you need to impose or allow to happen natural consequences. Like, for example, you know, you tell them, you better put that jacket on. It's a little cold this morning, and they say, nah, well five minutes down the road in the car, don't turn the car back around and go get their jacket because they're cold. You would teach them far more by letting them be cold that day and remembering that when the when the real cost is so small, then they'll let them go on and think they can make bad decisions and things will still work out fine. And they become adults. Tell them, you know, you don't finish your shore on time. Well, you know, you're not going to get to do the certain activity. They don't keep reminding them, but when the time comes up, they're not finished with their shore and they want to do an activity. Don't say, ah, it's not going to be getting new later. Say, we talked about this. I'm really sorry. You made that choice. You're going to have to miss that activity. You think, man, I want to make my kids sad. I want to disappoint them. Love their soul from death. Invest in them, something they need. Just some examples. In application, pray with your kids and pray that they'll get caught. Pray that your kids will get caught. So my challenge is learning how to do that years ago, you know, we just started having kids and we've done it and I think it works. Why would you want them to get caught? So they have an opportunity to be corrected and to learn because that's a loving thing for that. Question to ask yourself, when it comes to consequences, is it more important to me to love my child or make things comfortable for myself? Impress the promise upon their hearts through correcting. Lastly, arsenal in our arsenal is protecting. Proverbs 22, 15 says this, Folly's bound up at the heart of a child, but the rod this will leave it far from him. We're told there is something that needs to be removed far. There's something your child needs to be protected from. That's themselves. That's their natural self-centeredness which we all have. They need protection. In one form of discipline, is protecting them. Not just correcting them, but protecting them from other things that are out there. Well, our main enemy, the Bible says, is Satan and his forces. Jesus called Satan the Father of lies. You want to know the best way you can protect your children? Help them identify lies that come internally or externally in their lives. Real quick, an internal lie would be something like, you know, no one could ever really love me if they really knew my heart. Your child didn't say that out loud, but they think it inside. Man, there's really some crummy stuff in here. If people really saw that, they wouldn't love me. Who could? Gotta tell them that God will. God already knows. External lies. The lies that they hear that, hey, what others around me say is important. And what it means, what is successful, how they identify. Those are lies that come in all the time to them. You gotta tell them the truth. Protect them from falsehood. Revide for them. Real quick, application. Be willing to be an uncool parent and say no when needed to be the lead parent or to modify the plan. No is the new no, because parents don't say no much anymore. So try saying no sometimes. It will not make you popular, I promise. But if you're saying no for the right reasons, they'll thank you one day. Protect them when they need to be protected. Question to ask yourself, have I anticipated the threats to my child that they are facing? Impress the promise upon their hearts through protecting. Gotta get priority number one, right? Don't focus on number two until you focus on number one. Soundly, to sustain it. Promise, keep it in your heart. And number two, lead your children. Impress it upon them as well. Now, I started talking out this morning about how you got the, there's no remakes. There's no redoes and parenting. But I wanted to spell one last myth. That it's too late. That there's too much water in the bridge. That you're not strong enough or powerful enough to do it. You're not up for the call for the challenge, parents. Remember the story I heard in the men's returning material. We went through a story of Dale Kinsler who was a guy that married a lady who had been divorced. And part of the package is he got a 19 year old son named Chris Lot, who was embittered, who was struggling through life, and who was about to head off into the world of adulthood. He only had a few months with him. But he said, you know what? I'm going to trust God that maybe me a stepdad can make a difference in some of his life like that. So he began to invest. He began to spend time with Chris. He began to pour out his life. He began to ask him questions and listen to him and talk to him. He took him on this big camping trip with a bunch of other dads out in the wilderness. Well, they talked about what being men were all about, what it was all about. And then later that same year on Father's Day, he gets this letter from Chris. Dear Dale, I know I wasn't born your son, but by God's amazing grace, he has made two separate families one. And I thank him for that every day. I want more than anything if you didn't know that I'm thankful for you. I'm thankful because you came along and you loved my mom with all your heart. You changed her life and you changed mine. I know your legacy isn't over but you've already started a legacy in me whether you know it or not. In your life, you've taught me what it means to be a godly man. And I know I'm not finished learning. When I think of Dale Kinsler, I think of a man who deserves respect, the man of character, a man of integrity, a man you can trust, a man of his word, a man who always has a story to tell. In all what I think of, when I think of you, I think of a man who's committed to God. I'll never forget our camping trip in the Wash 2 Mountains where you affirm me as a son and as a man. Someday when I have a son, we'll go on a camping trip just like that and then you and I can induct him into our legacy of manhood. Proverbs 221 says a good name is more desirable and great riches to be esteemed is better than silver and gold and Dale with much prayer and consideration. It is my wish to honor you on Father's Day by taking on your last name as mine and carrying on your legacy in my life which much with much appreciation your son, Chris Kinsler. It's not too late. If your kids are young, let's keep going. Let's do this as parents. Let's pray. Father, I just ask you this morning that you would let the reality of your words sink in deeply in our hearts, sink in deeply in our souls, that you would set us free to be the parents you've called us to be. Let's be the future.