WEBVTT 00:00:03.709 --> 00:00:06.625 Well, good morning, it is family Sunday. 00:00:06.625 --> 00:00:07.748 It's so exciting. 00:00:07.748 --> 00:00:09.166 We have our families with us. 00:00:09.166 --> 00:00:13.830 If you didn't know, we are walking through a sermon series called Can we Talk? 00:00:13.830 --> 00:00:16.205 Can we talk about hard things? 00:00:16.205 --> 00:00:18.205 How do we do those things? 00:00:18.841 --> 00:00:29.042 And the way that we've broken that down is you know, each week Tyler has brought to us a message, the first one on truth and love, and that there is an absolute truth. 00:00:29.042 --> 00:00:34.789 No matter what you think about it, no matter what the world says about it, there's truth and we believe it. 00:00:34.789 --> 00:00:39.310 His name is Jesus Christ, and then then he taught us there's a way that we can share that truth. 00:00:39.310 --> 00:00:41.628 We can be really hateful with that truth. 00:00:41.628 --> 00:00:50.308 It still will be truth, but we can give it lovingly and allow it to work in somebody's heart a little bit easier with the love, right. 00:00:50.308 --> 00:00:51.521 And so we're. 00:00:51.521 --> 00:01:01.088 He did that in the way of uh, he would have a little um, uh, devotional in the beginning, short sermon in the beginning, and then, uh, what does culture say about the issue? 00:01:01.088 --> 00:01:02.987 What does God say about the issue? 00:01:02.987 --> 00:01:04.239 And then, how do we talk about it? 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:09.021 And so today we're going to do the same thing with a family and talking to our kids. 00:01:09.021 --> 00:01:16.549 Our kids are in the room with us today, and so we've made it fun for them as well, um, so hopefully you can stay in with me in just a little bit. 00:01:16.549 --> 00:01:22.307 Me and John are going to be here together, kind of talking back and forth, um, but this sermon is for families. 00:01:22.768 --> 00:01:40.331 In total, it's a lot for our parents, uh, but we have a bunch for our kids as well, and so there are two essential uh elements of family, and that, of course, is marriage and parenthood, and these reveal God's character like nothing else in all of creation. 00:01:40.331 --> 00:02:01.007 The love between a husband and a wife provides a glimpse of Christ's passionate love that he has for us, his bride, and, in the same way, the ups and downs of uh, of uh raising children, um, show us a picture of God's love and mercy for us, his children, and how he looks toward us with patience and kindness. 00:02:01.007 --> 00:02:06.587 And and no matter what we love our children, right, no matter what they do to us, we still love them so very much. 00:02:06.587 --> 00:02:16.288 Even in when they're actively being disobedient, there's still our heart for them is so loving and and we want the best for them, and that's the same way that our God is with us. 00:02:16.288 --> 00:02:20.568 So it shows that picture right, and family does more than just reflect God's character. 00:02:20.568 --> 00:02:32.211 It provides a safe place for where children can experience God's love through their parents and love how to learn how to love others, because, you know, families are the ones that they spend their most time with. 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:37.389 Even Christ himself was born into the context of a family. 00:02:37.389 --> 00:02:56.109 God in the flesh he submitted to an earthly mom and a dad for many years and uh, and he honored them and he shows that there was a benefit from their loving direction toward him, because it said that he grew, and Luke two, 52, that Jesus grew and wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. 00:02:56.109 --> 00:03:27.235 And so even uh, god using uh, you know, in the beginning he created and what we're going to talk about in a moment, created family, but, as Christ in the family again was a reminder of how he created family to be and have all the mini masterpieces that God has made and uh, which there are so many, um, you know a lot of people have plagiarized those masterpieces, right, so if you think about it, all of the pictures that you've seen and people pay it, spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for us. 00:03:27.235 --> 00:03:28.120 They can hang in their room. 00:03:28.120 --> 00:03:39.450 All it really is is a canvas with paint on it, right, and all it is is one of us, the lowly creation, their view of God's creation, right, right. 00:03:39.450 --> 00:03:41.073 So they're plagiarizing. 00:03:41.073 --> 00:03:43.116 Really, that's what they're doing. 00:03:43.539 --> 00:03:44.686 And I got to thinking about this. 00:03:44.686 --> 00:03:45.301 We went on a? 00:03:45.301 --> 00:03:47.929 Um, a pastoral prayer retreat here last week. 00:03:47.929 --> 00:03:51.789 Talk, uh, we went to pray and ask what God wanted to do in 2024. 00:03:51.789 --> 00:03:57.211 And, and I was out very early on, um, the lake there, and I got to see the, the? 00:03:57.211 --> 00:03:59.004 Um, I should have given the picture. 00:03:59.004 --> 00:03:59.627 It was beautiful. 00:03:59.627 --> 00:04:08.788 The fog over the lake and the little ridge that was in front of it, uh, you know, was reflected off of the water, because the water was so steel. 00:04:08.788 --> 00:04:17.607 It was beautiful, and I saw, I took some pictures of it, and, but the pictures did nothing to what I actually experienced. 00:04:17.607 --> 00:04:36.045 And this masterpiece that God has created, the family, is so beautiful, much better than any pictures the world might have of it, right, and so God created it to be such a beautiful, beautiful thing, and it's only a glimpse of it. 00:04:36.747 --> 00:04:38.211 But how did he create family? 00:04:38.211 --> 00:04:41.730 So today, I'm going to go quickly through a lot of stuff. 00:04:41.730 --> 00:04:45.670 And when we're preaching this sermon, um, and we were preparing the sermon. 00:04:45.670 --> 00:04:56.869 I mean, we realized there is a lot of information that needs to be put out here and, honestly, we could preach for the next month of Sundays but and still probably feel like we weren't giving enough to it. 00:04:56.869 --> 00:05:01.911 But today's main point is how did God create family? 00:05:01.911 --> 00:05:17.266 And so that we can see the view and we can talk about that with our family, how, how do we then begin to make a build communication with our family, um, and then talk about some of these hard things that, um, that the world is throwing at us today? 00:05:17.266 --> 00:05:22.398 Um, later on next year, sometime, we may do uh, can we talk part two? 00:05:22.398 --> 00:05:29.632 Because there are so many things that we need to discuss and we want to do that, and so God created the family. 00:05:29.672 --> 00:05:42.067 In this masterpiece Right and and in the masterpiece of all creation, we see it all throughout Genesis, all of these beautiful things that God spoke into existence, the things that we see out in the world. 00:05:42.067 --> 00:05:43.271 They're just beautiful. 00:05:43.271 --> 00:05:54.870 It's great to sit on my back porch and watch the squirrels and the bunnies bouncing across the yard and, and even when we were at the lake the other day, it was just so beautiful the, the view of the lake and the leaves. 00:05:54.870 --> 00:06:08.584 And and it wasn't the buildings that were beautiful, it was the area that you looked at where there was nothing built but just God's creation, and that was more beautiful than anything that could be explained in like pictures and things like that. 00:06:08.584 --> 00:06:09.468 It was so beautiful. 00:06:09.468 --> 00:06:15.322 And in the midst of doing all of that, in Genesis one 27, then God created man. 00:06:15.322 --> 00:06:25.047 He created man in his own image you guys know where in the image of God we're in the image of God and he created male and female. 00:06:25.047 --> 00:06:28.358 He created them Male and female. 00:06:28.358 --> 00:06:28.598 That's it. 00:06:28.598 --> 00:06:35.028 There's just two, male and female, I can promise you. 00:06:35.048 --> 00:06:37.437 In Genesis, chapter one, verse 28,. 00:06:37.437 --> 00:06:40.959 It doesn't continue on, so Tyler's going to speak more on that next week. 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:50.379 And in verse 28, god blessed them and God said to them be fruitful and multiply the earth, right? 00:06:50.379 --> 00:06:52.800 So here's the picture of family. 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:55.764 God created it, god created it. 00:06:55.764 --> 00:06:59.990 He created it husband and wife with children. 00:06:59.990 --> 00:07:12.889 So the picture of family is completely created by God and, by the way, that's the only way that fan, that the world can even exist is through man and woman, right? 00:07:12.980 --> 00:07:33.180 No matter what people say, no matter how they want to live it, and we'll talk about that going against God's creation, but there is only one way for us to exist, and it's only happened one time where a man and a woman didn't get together, but God still put the child into Mary and Jesus was born, right. 00:07:33.180 --> 00:07:37.259 So there, none of us are here without man and woman. 00:07:37.259 --> 00:07:40.990 God's creation making that happen, right. 00:07:40.990 --> 00:07:51.009 So it's simple to see, very easy, and it's again one of those things that are not up for negotiation, they're not up for interpretation. 00:07:51.009 --> 00:07:52.959 This is the way God created it. 00:07:52.959 --> 00:08:00.384 It's very easy to see, unless you throw a lot of very confusing things in that make no sense at all. 00:08:00.384 --> 00:08:02.572 So that you can make up your story. 00:08:03.529 --> 00:08:04.278 God created family. 00:08:04.278 --> 00:08:09.339 He created this way because he wanted us to have that. 00:08:09.339 --> 00:08:16.435 He wanted to make a way for us to grow up and show the picture of how he loves us. 00:08:16.435 --> 00:08:23.687 And but this question the culture today keeps questioning God, which is which is kind of wild. 00:08:23.687 --> 00:08:32.548 I think about this often, like there's a lot of things in earth that it can be complainly seen, but yet it's it's questioned repeatedly. 00:08:32.620 --> 00:08:35.366 And it it reminds me of, like my daughter. 00:08:35.366 --> 00:08:45.868 She draws a lot and she's actually drawing some this morning and, and I just imagine for a moment, the piece of paper that she's drawing on just moves and says, nope, I don't want the, I don't want that line right there. 00:08:45.868 --> 00:08:47.292 You quit, nope. 00:08:47.292 --> 00:08:51.471 So the creation is arguing with the creator. 00:08:51.471 --> 00:08:56.370 That's what we do when we don't follow God's path and God's plan. 00:08:56.370 --> 00:09:03.369 Where the piece of paper trying to move no, no, don't put that line right there, I don't want that line right there, I don't like that. 00:09:03.369 --> 00:09:04.919 You just put blue shoes on me. 00:09:04.919 --> 00:09:06.326 I want red shoes on me. 00:09:06.326 --> 00:09:15.232 The creation has no right to question the creator about how he created it. 00:09:15.232 --> 00:09:17.759 Right, and that's what we believe. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:26.773 And if you believe anything other than that, you are receiving the live the devil, the God of this world. 00:09:27.884 --> 00:09:34.119 So, in short, really quickly, I've chosen just a few scriptures to talk about how the Bible talks about family. 00:09:34.119 --> 00:09:39.273 There are way more than this, but just quick. 00:09:39.273 --> 00:09:44.013 In proverbs one a listen, my son, to your father's teaching. 00:09:44.013 --> 00:09:50.546 I mean in your father's instructions, and do not forsake your mother's teaching, and he's already in proverbs there, of course. 00:09:50.546 --> 00:09:53.823 In the beginning he created the family and he showed us how it's going. 00:09:53.823 --> 00:09:57.759 And then proverbs tells us as children, listen to your parents. 00:09:57.759 --> 00:10:07.399 He tells us again in Exodus 2012, honor your father and your mother, that the days on this earth may be long and that God's given to you. 00:10:07.399 --> 00:10:15.239 And we continue on in New Testament where Luke, chapter one and chapter two Jesus came as a baby. 00:10:15.239 --> 00:10:23.014 You talked about that a moment again I mean a moment ago about how Jesus came into the world as a family. 00:10:23.014 --> 00:10:27.192 He grew in the family and increased in wisdom and stature in favor of the Lord. 00:10:27.802 --> 00:10:36.812 And in Ephesians, chapter five through chapter six, talking about how husbands should respond and wives should respond to one another. 00:10:36.812 --> 00:10:47.447 And this is one of those that I love so much and it's really important I want to bring that out today is how we husbands are supposed to love our wives Like Christ loves the church. 00:10:47.447 --> 00:10:52.524 Oftentimes we just kind of look over that right and we don't think much of it. 00:10:52.524 --> 00:10:55.802 But how does Jesus love us Really? 00:10:55.802 --> 00:10:57.609 Stretched out his arms and died for us. 00:10:57.609 --> 00:11:06.379 He doesn't remind us of our wrongdoings, he doesn't condemn us, he doesn't nag us and try to get us to do different things. 00:11:06.379 --> 00:11:13.095 He's loving and he's kind and he's compassionate and he cares about me to the deepest core. 00:11:13.095 --> 00:11:15.409 Now, love my wife that way. 00:11:15.409 --> 00:11:20.173 It's hard, but that is what we're supposed to do. 00:11:21.202 --> 00:11:24.472 And we get multiple verses husband, of how we're supposed to do that. 00:11:24.472 --> 00:11:29.673 And wives, you guys just get like three, honor your husbands, right. 00:11:29.673 --> 00:11:39.094 But, guys, it would be really easy for our wives to stand beside us and honor us If we're loving them like Christ loves us. 00:11:39.094 --> 00:11:42.365 And it's not that one Lord's over the other. 00:11:42.365 --> 00:11:48.332 It's not that way at all, because man and woman, when they get married, become one flesh. 00:11:48.332 --> 00:11:49.479 They are together. 00:11:49.479 --> 00:11:57.879 Right, the man is the lead spokesperson, but not the, you know the guy who's going to trump over the family. 00:11:57.879 --> 00:11:59.720 That is not what scripture says. 00:11:59.720 --> 00:12:10.798 There's no way that I can walk toward the door If my left leg is saying I want to go through that door, that's going to be a funny looking walk and I'm not going to make it to the door. 00:12:10.798 --> 00:12:12.658 And that's my husband, my wife. 00:12:12.658 --> 00:12:15.994 We, my wife and me, are together that way. 00:12:15.994 --> 00:12:18.799 I can't walk without her. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:22.597 We need it together because we are one and God made it that way. 00:12:25.530 --> 00:12:27.200 And children it says to obey your parents. 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:31.979 And this is a commandment with a promise, because it's honoring to God. 00:12:31.979 --> 00:12:36.019 This is the way he made it, so that your lives would be long. 00:12:36.019 --> 00:12:42.279 God has given you a family to listen to, because they have the guidance for you. 00:12:42.279 --> 00:12:44.120 Their job is to pray and listen. 00:12:47.052 --> 00:12:51.659 And then it says fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. 00:12:51.659 --> 00:13:05.302 Parents, there are times we make our kids, our parents, our children, our kids mad and we know that what we're doing to them makes them mad and that is what this scripture is saying Stop it. 00:13:05.302 --> 00:13:15.350 Just as you don't like your buttons pushed, they are a little human and they deserve honor and respect the same way you don't push their little buttons. 00:13:15.350 --> 00:13:25.032 And it's not a thing of you having to back off from your discipline, because it says raise them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. 00:13:25.032 --> 00:13:35.090 But you can discipline your child without pushing their buttons and without making them mad and bringing them to anger and exacerbating them, making them upset. 00:13:35.090 --> 00:13:49.229 That is not what we're meant to do and that does not begin what we're gonna talk about here in just a few moments, that line of trust and communication that we want so bad and what we need to be able to have these hard conversations. 00:13:50.205 --> 00:13:55.755 But what's lacking in our culture when we talk about all of this is a fear of God. 00:13:55.755 --> 00:14:00.592 The world does not have a fear of God. 00:14:00.592 --> 00:14:03.432 God created everything. 00:14:03.432 --> 00:14:09.076 He, throughout time has taken it out. 00:14:09.076 --> 00:14:14.330 He has taken all of it out and he could do it again. 00:14:14.330 --> 00:14:20.515 We do realize that our God, who created us, is real right. 00:14:20.515 --> 00:14:22.250 Who's he really did? 00:14:22.250 --> 00:14:24.131 He's the one giving us breath right now. 00:14:24.131 --> 00:14:28.408 He has the option to stop it Like he does. 00:14:28.408 --> 00:14:37.027 We've gotta have a fear of God and then we will begin to have a fear of God's word that he said. 00:14:37.027 --> 00:14:40.014 I will listen to him because he's God. 00:14:40.014 --> 00:14:52.219 He created me, he did it, and we're walking through our Bible reading plan and Jeremiah and listening to this even this morning. 00:14:52.304 --> 00:14:54.471 How they weren't listening. 00:14:54.471 --> 00:14:59.207 The prophet was just continue to tell him well, this is the word of the Lord. 00:14:59.207 --> 00:15:00.091 This is the word of the Lord. 00:15:00.091 --> 00:15:04.386 If you just repent and turn, I won't let you be destroyed, just turn. 00:15:04.386 --> 00:15:05.429 None of them. 00:15:05.429 --> 00:15:07.014 They would burn the scrolls. 00:15:07.014 --> 00:15:15.373 They would put the prophet in prison, once in a really bad dungeon, the next in the bottom of the cistern and four feet of mud. 00:15:15.373 --> 00:15:17.149 You know all of these things. 00:15:17.149 --> 00:15:20.591 They did not care about the word of the Lord that was coming. 00:15:20.591 --> 00:15:21.854 And what happened? 00:15:21.854 --> 00:15:24.048 God, let it happen. 00:15:24.048 --> 00:15:31.111 God, let them be taken, and a lot of them died and a lot of their things were taken. 00:15:32.345 --> 00:15:44.787 This is we do serve a God who is in control of all right, and we thank God so much that he sent Jesus Christ down the cross for us so that we could then come close to him. 00:15:44.787 --> 00:15:51.053 So then we have the right to come and ask him for forgiveness because of what Jesus has done for us. 00:15:51.053 --> 00:15:54.688 But it's still God, he's still coming back. 00:15:54.688 --> 00:15:56.346 He's still. 00:15:56.346 --> 00:16:00.653 We're gonna have to account for the things that we've done and said or not done and not said. 00:16:00.653 --> 00:16:09.027 So we need to begin to realize that if God says it, that's the way it is In all of these things when we're talking about, can we talk? 00:16:09.347 --> 00:16:10.994 If God says it, that's it. 00:16:10.994 --> 00:16:20.913 There's no room for all the nonsense, thinking, all the stuff that makes no sense, and all of us ask questions how do you even come up with that theology or that thought process or anything? 00:16:20.913 --> 00:16:22.470 There's no room for that. 00:16:22.470 --> 00:16:23.971 God says it, that's it. 00:16:23.971 --> 00:16:28.510 And so first, husbands and wives, we need to be leading our family. 00:16:28.510 --> 00:16:35.831 We must hear what the Lord says that we should do for our children, and that is to train them up in the way they should go in Proverbs 22. 00:16:35.831 --> 00:16:39.071 So when they get old, they will not depart from him. 00:16:39.071 --> 00:16:41.772 There's a lot expected right here. 00:16:41.884 --> 00:16:51.388 This is not to be taken lightly, and I'm reminded of the scripture that Jesus had said in Matthew 18,6, and this wasn't scripture to Jesus, he's just talking to him. 00:16:51.388 --> 00:17:04.731 Right, and so he says but whoever causes one of these little ones that believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great milestone fastened around his neck and dropped to the depths of the sea. 00:17:04.731 --> 00:17:11.016 Wow, that should tell you how serious your creator. 00:17:11.016 --> 00:17:11.445 Remember. 00:17:11.445 --> 00:17:13.212 Jesus spoke life in this. 00:17:13.212 --> 00:17:16.945 Everything was made through him right, everything. 00:17:16.945 --> 00:17:19.092 He's the one who's saying this. 00:17:19.092 --> 00:17:23.713 Your creator, Don't lead children in the wrong way. 00:17:23.713 --> 00:17:26.949 He will not turn out good for you. 00:17:26.949 --> 00:17:29.608 I promise that's not my words. 00:17:32.085 --> 00:17:39.095 So we should take it very, very serious that God has given us children to lead in God. 00:17:39.095 --> 00:17:42.986 We must show our children how to live this. 00:17:42.986 --> 00:17:44.752 Do as I say, not as I do. 00:17:44.752 --> 00:17:46.029 Live stuff that's going on. 00:17:46.029 --> 00:17:48.211 That's gotta be the worst saying I've ever heard. 00:17:48.211 --> 00:17:52.454 It's like living a hypocritical life all the time. 00:17:52.454 --> 00:17:56.311 We can't be living this with our family. 00:17:56.311 --> 00:18:04.160 Do not ask our children to do anything that we ourselves aren't currently doing right. 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:06.188 We can't do that. 00:18:06.188 --> 00:18:13.115 We can't expect that they're going to follow what we're saying if we ourselves aren't doing it. 00:18:13.115 --> 00:18:19.098 So we show them love through the way that God loves us. 00:18:19.098 --> 00:18:24.115 We give them love because he first loved us. 00:18:24.115 --> 00:18:39.451 He shows us the example of love and we should repeatedly in our mind be thinking about meditating on God's love for us, so that God's love for us comes out into our children, because, again, this is the first time that they see the love of God. 00:18:39.451 --> 00:18:51.935 This is the first time they equate father with love, mother with love, and what they get here in the beginning can shape how they see father. 00:18:51.976 --> 00:19:07.365 For years and it's been sad, I've heard it in the past and even some in the room you can't look at the word father and equate it with God Because of how you learned as a child what father looked like and you can't see that the two were together. 00:19:07.365 --> 00:19:11.972 The two were together and so we have to be careful for that. 00:19:11.972 --> 00:19:22.377 If we want our children to trust us to the fullest, we must have truth with them in every answer we give them. 00:19:22.377 --> 00:19:26.834 Listen to this scripture Matthew 5, 37. 00:19:26.834 --> 00:19:28.128 Again, it's Jesus. 00:19:28.128 --> 00:19:32.711 They'll let you yes, be yes and your nose be no. 00:19:32.711 --> 00:19:33.669 We've all heard that one right? 00:19:33.669 --> 00:19:35.390 I tell that to my kids all the time. 00:19:35.390 --> 00:19:36.567 You see the next part. 00:19:36.567 --> 00:19:41.516 For whatever is more than these is from the evil one. 00:19:43.025 --> 00:19:47.972 Any deceit that we sow into our children, any deceit, it's gotta go away. 00:19:47.972 --> 00:19:50.570 We can't just make up stuff. 00:19:50.570 --> 00:19:57.388 We'll talk about that more here in just a little bit when me and John come up with the questions and the answers toward the end. 00:19:57.388 --> 00:20:05.292 But we need to let our kids know that no matter what we say, they can guarantee that it's always the truth. 00:20:05.292 --> 00:20:07.410 We're not gonna sugarcoat it. 00:20:07.410 --> 00:20:11.070 It's gonna be age appropriate, but we're not going to twist it. 00:20:12.865 --> 00:20:20.949 If you want your kids to know more about I mean, if you wanna know your kids more and give them the opportunity to have questions, you're gonna have to spend more time with them. 00:20:20.949 --> 00:20:24.672 Turn the TV off, put the phone down. 00:20:24.672 --> 00:20:30.951 Like a lot of us work full-time jobs, we're spending three hours an evening with our kid. 00:20:30.951 --> 00:20:34.272 How many of those hours are spent with our kids? 00:20:34.272 --> 00:20:38.334 How many of those hours are with mindless entertainment? 00:20:38.334 --> 00:20:44.349 And so we wanna open up communication levels, communication avenues. 00:20:44.349 --> 00:20:49.229 We need to begin to allow communication to start by being with them. 00:20:50.005 --> 00:20:52.173 But you gotta understand this doesn't happen overnight. 00:20:52.173 --> 00:21:03.173 Now I'm not saying like, if you add some of the things that me and John are talking about today, to your life, that it's gonna happen tomorrow, like you start talking to your kid tomorrow afternoon and you think that they're gonna go ahead and answer you. 00:21:03.173 --> 00:21:05.269 This happens over time. 00:21:05.269 --> 00:21:07.469 This is like cultivating. 00:21:07.469 --> 00:21:08.491 It's like a garden. 00:21:08.491 --> 00:21:13.809 You're gonna begin to cultivate the soil by hanging out with them and getting to know them a little bit. 00:21:13.809 --> 00:21:24.028 You're gonna keep moving that dirt around and then you're gonna start putting some seeds in here and there as you show them how to live for Christ, because you're modeling this. 00:21:24.028 --> 00:21:26.315 Christian means Christ. 00:21:26.315 --> 00:21:29.173 Like Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. 00:21:29.173 --> 00:21:31.172 And that's what we're doing as families, right? 00:21:31.172 --> 00:21:36.488 So then we start putting in little seeds here and there and we keep watering that, and then what happens? 00:21:36.488 --> 00:21:41.270 It finally grows and it comes out and we're able to have communication with them. 00:21:41.270 --> 00:21:43.249 That's how it starts. 00:21:43.805 --> 00:21:47.208 So, husbands, are you being the man that you want your son to be? 00:21:47.208 --> 00:21:52.400 Wives, are you being the wife that you want your daughter to be? 00:21:52.400 --> 00:22:08.665 The beginning steps of a relationship with children is to help them to know that you're there for them and that you're going to have their back and that you're going to listen to them and that you're going to give them the truth about it. 00:22:08.665 --> 00:22:13.000 So, kids, this one's for you for a moment. 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:28.316 Alright, your parents aren't always perfect, right, we're not, we're going to mess up, but our job is to honor our fathers and our mothers, and that honors God when we do so. 00:22:28.316 --> 00:22:29.519 And why is that? 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:39.644 Because God gave you to your parents for them to guide you, and there's no one else in this world that loves you as much as your mama and your daddy. 00:22:39.644 --> 00:22:41.454 No one else. 00:22:42.790 --> 00:22:50.864 So if you go to school and ask somebody a question and you think it might be truth, they don't really care where you end up in the end. 00:22:50.864 --> 00:22:59.230 They're just going to tell you what makes sense for them, what might manipulate you to help them grow a little bit in their popularity or whatnot. 00:22:59.230 --> 00:23:06.700 And the truth is, guys, if you were gone today, the world might throw you on the news for a moment to make a dollar off of you. 00:23:06.700 --> 00:23:13.496 But the ones who care and miss you are your family, because they want the best for you. 00:23:13.496 --> 00:23:15.800 They want you to grow up strong. 00:23:15.800 --> 00:23:35.295 They want you to grow in the fear and the aponition of the Lord, because they know that they have found that their life has changed since they met God and they're just trying to share with you the principles that either once they led them to Jesus or what they wished they had known when they were a child, because they care for you. 00:23:35.295 --> 00:23:37.220 So listen to them. 00:23:37.220 --> 00:23:51.250 God put these parents in your life because it is their responsibility to look after you, to make sure that you're alive, to make sure that you're fed for, but most of all, to make sure that you know Jesus Christ. 00:23:52.135 --> 00:23:54.269 And the truth is, kids, you guys got to hear this. 00:23:54.269 --> 00:24:05.269 If you guys were on your bicycle or your go card or whatever you've got, and you were driving it toward a big O tree, do you want them to stop you from hitting the tree? 00:24:05.269 --> 00:24:08.269 It's going to hurt pretty bad when you're driving really fast. 00:24:08.269 --> 00:24:11.097 Or do you just want them to step out of the way? 00:24:11.097 --> 00:24:14.936 No, you want them to stop me from hitting the tree. 00:24:14.936 --> 00:24:16.922 It's going to hurt like I didn't see the tree. 00:24:16.922 --> 00:24:18.695 Well, that's the thing. 00:24:19.631 --> 00:24:32.499 Most of the time, your parents are trying to help you to not jump off the cliff or to hit a tree or whatnot, because they've been there, they've done this, they've seen it, they've personally experienced it. 00:24:32.499 --> 00:24:40.123 They hit the tree, they fell off the cliff, and they don't want you to have to experience the same thing. 00:24:40.123 --> 00:24:46.663 So listen to their wisdom, listen to what they're trying to say to you, because their heart is for you. 00:24:46.663 --> 00:24:51.181 Your friends are only going to tell you half truths and whole lies. 00:24:51.181 --> 00:24:54.759 They'll tell you what they want you to hear and that's it. 00:24:54.759 --> 00:24:58.680 So now we know what family is. 00:24:59.269 --> 00:25:00.252 We're going to call John up here. 00:25:00.252 --> 00:25:02.439 We believe that this is family. 00:25:02.439 --> 00:25:06.269 Family is man and woman and children. 00:25:06.269 --> 00:25:07.373 This is family. 00:25:07.373 --> 00:25:12.833 There's no other definition that is acceptable and we'll talk about that. 00:25:12.833 --> 00:25:20.839 But you got to realize too, today, again, we're talking about specific things, specifically communicating with your kids and things like that. 00:25:20.839 --> 00:25:31.614 Again, we could go way beyond this and talk about families that may have had things happen in their past where maybe mom, dad's not here, diverses, things like that. 00:25:31.614 --> 00:25:33.920 We're not talking about any of those things. 00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:36.836 We're just talking about the basic form of family. 00:25:39.289 --> 00:25:49.184 So today, me and John are going to talk about, like Tyler's been doing, what culture says and then what God says. 00:25:49.184 --> 00:25:50.957 And then how do we talk about it? 00:25:50.957 --> 00:26:01.269 And John and I today are just going to kind of jump back and forth on that what culture says, what God says, and then just give you some thoughts on it To give you a little bit of background in case you don't know. 00:26:01.269 --> 00:26:05.180 I have two kids here on earth. 00:26:05.180 --> 00:26:07.575 I've got one in heaven, I've got my little girl. 00:26:07.575 --> 00:26:18.969 She's 10, and then my little boy is here, is four and a half, and so I'm raising young children, right, I've got right out of toddler days to tween here. 00:26:18.969 --> 00:26:22.269 I've been a youth pastor for many, many years. 00:26:22.269 --> 00:26:27.269 I've been here at Trinity for 21 years and, gosh, I'd say 18 of that was in youth ministry. 00:26:27.269 --> 00:26:31.040 And so then, john, what you telling them about yourself? 00:26:32.159 --> 00:26:33.250 Good morning Trinity. 00:26:33.250 --> 00:26:37.434 Where are my youth there? 00:26:37.474 --> 00:26:37.634 you are. 00:26:39.336 --> 00:26:40.163 So great to have them. 00:26:40.163 --> 00:26:56.942 Yeah, Laura and I have been married for 31 years and we have two amazing children who are not children anymore 26 and 20, almost 24, which I was able to answer faster this time than the first service. 00:26:56.942 --> 00:26:57.932 So proud of that. 00:26:59.309 --> 00:27:02.640 But we also are here for the children's ministry. 00:27:02.640 --> 00:27:13.698 I had that up and active in the youth and it's just been a blessing and an honor to minister to youth for many years and I was so thankful for that opportunity. 00:27:13.698 --> 00:27:19.258 A lot of interesting experiences and a lot of funny stories. 00:27:19.258 --> 00:27:27.250 But we're going to share some of the things today that we've been able to learn from being able to be part of these kids lives. 00:27:27.250 --> 00:27:28.053 It's been a blessing. 00:27:29.450 --> 00:27:33.221 So today, the culture says a number of really rough things. 00:27:33.221 --> 00:27:34.595 We're just going to point out a few of them. 00:27:34.595 --> 00:27:39.939 One of them is kids are disrespectful and actively want to hide their lives from their parents. 00:27:42.309 --> 00:27:43.654 I'm glad we didn't hear any amends. 00:27:44.289 --> 00:27:45.252 Really happy about that. 00:27:48.993 --> 00:27:52.250 This can be a true statement, right, we've all experienced that. 00:27:52.250 --> 00:27:54.356 We've all been there, probably. 00:27:54.356 --> 00:27:58.720 But what we're trying to say here is that that does not have to be the case. 00:27:58.720 --> 00:28:02.230 The world tends to put labels on people. 00:28:02.230 --> 00:28:03.715 This is the way it is. 00:28:03.715 --> 00:28:08.260 There's no room for change, no room for redemption. 00:28:08.651 --> 00:28:16.269 But we know that the gospel is a message of redemption and new life and change. 00:28:16.269 --> 00:28:18.269 We don't have to remain the same. 00:28:18.269 --> 00:28:24.382 So when your children are in those situations, you don't just have to accept that that's just the way they are. 00:28:24.382 --> 00:28:31.702 We need to share with them the proper way to show respect and to honor God in that way. 00:28:31.702 --> 00:28:34.674 For our children and our youth also. 00:28:34.674 --> 00:28:48.269 They need to understand that there needs to be change, and Derek mentioned before that, as you're living in front of your children, that they see that you are adapting to the change and to the things that God has revealed in your life. 00:28:48.269 --> 00:28:53.201 So we don't need to be happy with the situation we're in. 00:28:53.201 --> 00:28:59.269 We can, through the power of the Holy Spirit, experience newness of life and change in our lives. 00:28:59.269 --> 00:29:08.646 So let's not just let the world label us that way and say that's just the way I am, get used to it, because that's not a message from God. 00:29:08.906 --> 00:29:18.269 Yeah, and I was just thinking about it, it's not even in the notes, but I would actually say that most kids don't want to be disrespectful and actively go against you. 00:29:18.269 --> 00:29:33.269 I believe, as we our parents started a young age spending time with them and getting to know them and we put them in the place that they should be and teaching them and things that they actually want to be with us and they want to talk to, they don't want to actively be against us. 00:29:33.269 --> 00:29:37.780 There might be some disagreements and stuff, but I don't think that's their deepest heart. 00:29:37.780 --> 00:29:52.118 It may be their deepest heart when you're not guiding them directly and they don't want to be near you because they feel like you might not be leading them in the right direction, but I just think that not all kids would be like that. 00:29:52.118 --> 00:29:57.561 So the next one would be parents don't understand what young people are dealing with today. 00:29:57.561 --> 00:30:01.396 You don't need a parent, you need a therapist. 00:30:03.221 --> 00:30:08.250 Wow, this is a message that we've heard especially lately. 00:30:08.250 --> 00:30:11.538 It's been a very big topic in our country. 00:30:11.538 --> 00:30:27.558 Parents are realizing the fact that the people that we've entrusted to watch over our children, train, teach our children, have a completely separate agenda, right, and they're trying to cut us out of the loop. 00:30:27.558 --> 00:30:30.250 And that's not the way God has set it up. 00:30:30.250 --> 00:30:56.269 And Derek quoted scripture in the beginning of the service that the parents are the primary responsible one for the instruction of their child, and that's ordained by God and we should take that seriously and we should be actively involved and know who is teaching our children, what they're teaching, where their worldview is coming from, all those things. 00:30:56.269 --> 00:30:59.269 I know in our Children's Ministry we send things home with the kids all the time. 00:30:59.269 --> 00:31:06.242 So you guys are informed, because although we're here to help you, we're not here to take your job away. 00:31:06.583 --> 00:31:07.023 Right. 00:31:07.269 --> 00:31:13.782 We're here to give in the primary responsibility of being the spiritual leaders of your children and train them up in the way they should go. 00:31:13.782 --> 00:31:21.959 We're here to do everything we can to assist you in that and help you in that, but we're not here to do the job that you were supposed to do. 00:31:21.959 --> 00:31:25.520 So there is a place. 00:31:25.520 --> 00:31:27.269 Therapists are not an evil thing. 00:31:27.269 --> 00:31:30.920 We're not preaching against therapists or counselors or anything like that. 00:31:30.920 --> 00:31:35.493 God has instructed us to have Godly counsel, so there's nothing wrong with that. 00:31:35.493 --> 00:31:49.377 But to know where the people who are the people that are training or instructing your children know where they stand Right and, as Derek spoke earlier in Proverbs, listen to your parents. 00:31:49.557 --> 00:31:51.059 You know young people we need. 00:31:51.300 --> 00:31:55.066 You need to remember that that they do have worldly experience. 00:31:55.066 --> 00:31:58.980 I thought it was just amazing how intelligent my dad got when I turned 19. 00:31:58.980 --> 00:32:03.961 He didn't know anything all the years that are through 13 to 19. 00:32:03.961 --> 00:32:07.104 But then, all of a sudden, he had all this wisdom. 00:32:07.104 --> 00:32:08.230 Like where did he get that from? 00:32:08.230 --> 00:32:10.269 It was just that I wasn't listening to it. 00:32:10.269 --> 00:32:28.105 So we need to be conscious of that fact that it is very important that we are intentionally paying attention to what's being poured into our children and making sure that the voice of the Lord coming through us is the loudest voice that they hear. 00:32:28.385 --> 00:32:30.067 Right, that's true. 00:32:30.067 --> 00:32:37.778 And the next one is children are an inconvenience, so we should abort them. 00:32:37.778 --> 00:32:47.269 You know, it's really sad and seeing a few pictures lately of people having parties because they just had abortions and things like that. 00:32:47.269 --> 00:32:52.380 So the culture is saying that children aren't inconvenienced. 00:32:52.380 --> 00:32:53.221 What is the word of God? 00:32:53.221 --> 00:32:56.257 Tell us, john, they're an inheritance. 00:32:56.356 --> 00:33:02.057 Yes, they're an inheritance, a blessing to us. 00:33:02.057 --> 00:33:15.317 At times we may feel, you know, a lot of demands on us as parents, which is true, right, raising children is not an easy thing, right? 00:33:15.317 --> 00:33:16.861 Yeah, we all know that. 00:33:16.861 --> 00:33:38.230 Sorry, guys, you may think you're just all sweet, but you can be challenging and the world, as Derek said, you know, life is not important, right, if it's not convenient in your stage of life, if you don't need to feel like you want to be bothered in this situation, then just do away with it. 00:33:38.230 --> 00:33:43.250 But God has an is definitely not it right, and it's very important to him. 00:33:43.250 --> 00:33:47.269 And, as we learned earlier, jesus just beckoned the children to come to him. 00:33:47.269 --> 00:33:51.269 Why did Jesus tell us all that if children weren't really important? 00:33:51.269 --> 00:34:08.297 But they are, and I'm thankful to be part of a church that really believes that, not just in word, but indeed and in all of our efforts and everything we do around here, and we firmly believe that the children are the church of today. 00:34:08.297 --> 00:34:11.380 Right, we will be part of the church of the future. 00:34:11.380 --> 00:34:14.648 There are future leaders, future pastors. 00:34:14.648 --> 00:34:16.804 I see Pastor Noah out there. 00:34:16.804 --> 00:34:25.202 Maybe I don't know, but we don't know what God's gonna lead them into and we wanna be here and lead them and guide them and direct them. 00:34:25.202 --> 00:34:29.248 But they are the church today just as much as all of us are. 00:34:29.248 --> 00:34:32.789 So they have value and we need to respect that and honor that. 00:34:33.159 --> 00:34:41.909 And, as parents, sometimes we're busy in our life and your kid wants to do something or ask you a question and we're busy in all and it's hard, right. 00:34:41.909 --> 00:34:44.047 Sometimes it's just hard to take that time. 00:34:44.047 --> 00:34:48.811 We're not trying to criticize that or that's a reality, right? 00:34:48.811 --> 00:34:49.722 You're in the middle of doing. 00:34:49.722 --> 00:34:50.425 I remember I used to. 00:34:50.425 --> 00:35:05.112 If I had to fix something at the house I'd wait till nap time, right, because if I was doing it and they're like grabbing this, grabbing that where's my gear going and they're off running around with it, all right, but that's okay. 00:35:05.320 --> 00:35:12.666 There's still a blessing and we need to just experience that time with our children and really enjoy it. 00:35:13.019 --> 00:35:14.465 Yeah you know, thinking about that. 00:35:14.465 --> 00:35:17.083 You know my little boy, he's all about grabbing stuff like you're talking about. 00:35:17.083 --> 00:35:20.307 When he wants to, he wants to help me. 00:35:20.307 --> 00:35:24.802 I can do the job myself in five minutes with him as an hour. 00:35:24.802 --> 00:35:30.242 But, man, that hour was fun and he'll remember it for the rest of his life, so it's really good. 00:35:31.079 --> 00:35:40.905 So the next one that people are saying is children should be free to make their own life, altering decisions without the encompasses of their parental oversight. 00:35:40.905 --> 00:35:57.525 So if you didn't know this, they were pushing really hard that if your child has a whim that they're a dinosaur, then they can become one, or become the opposite sex, or become a race car or whatever they want to, and parents don't need to know about it. 00:35:57.525 --> 00:36:02.766 Parents don't get to bring in their opinion on it and they're not gonna tell you about it. 00:36:02.766 --> 00:36:07.045 And I'm thinking about the scripture there and Proverbs 14, 12,. 00:36:07.045 --> 00:36:11.809 There's a way that seems right to a man, but it's end is the way to death. 00:36:11.809 --> 00:36:20.507 You know, a lot of the world around us believes that these things are right, but it's end is death, right? 00:36:20.507 --> 00:36:32.530 So we have to protect our children because, again back to Proverbs right, you know, follow the instructions of our parents and our job as parents to lead and guide them right. 00:36:33.862 --> 00:36:37.251 So, as long as my child's happy, that's all that matters. 00:36:37.251 --> 00:36:39.385 Anyone ever hear that? 00:36:39.385 --> 00:36:43.543 Yeah, totally not true, not true at all. 00:36:43.543 --> 00:36:51.043 But yet that is a philosophy that is very real in our society today. 00:36:51.043 --> 00:36:55.550 Right, as long as they're happy, I don't really agree with their decision. 00:36:55.550 --> 00:36:57.786 I don't agree with it, but they're happy, so that's all that matters. 00:36:58.300 --> 00:37:00.746 Happiness is not the determination of truth. 00:37:00.746 --> 00:37:07.003 Right, I would be very happy to have a pan of brownies for dinner today. 00:37:07.003 --> 00:37:20.427 That would make me very happy, but it's not good for me, right, it's not the best thing for me and I'll probably be sorry later on for that, but we have this mentality of that. 00:37:20.427 --> 00:37:26.780 Happiness is that measure that we're doing right and it's not right Things. 00:37:26.780 --> 00:37:30.831 There is a way that seems right, but it's not. 00:37:30.831 --> 00:37:44.869 We have to follow after the path of God, and it's so important to allow our children to know that right that I'm not doing this because I'm against you or I don't want you to have fun, or I'm doing these things because it's in your benefit. 00:37:44.869 --> 00:37:46.525 It will benefit you. 00:37:46.525 --> 00:38:00.942 God gives us the desires of our heart when our heart is desiring after him, right, and it's just so important to remember that and to be a living testimony in front of our children of that we love you. 00:38:00.942 --> 00:38:02.567 We're setting these things up. 00:38:02.567 --> 00:38:06.168 It's important to establish those boundaries. 00:38:06.940 --> 00:38:09.307 It's not wrong to say no to your child. 00:38:09.307 --> 00:38:12.726 It's not a wrong thing, right? 00:38:12.726 --> 00:38:16.586 But they want it oh, they just wanted it so bad. 00:38:16.586 --> 00:38:26.824 No, we have to, as the parents, step up and be a parent, and I've told this to some people before be a parent, be the parent, right. 00:38:26.824 --> 00:38:33.449 It may not be easy, it may not go over that well in the beginning, but your child will be better off for it, right? 00:38:33.449 --> 00:38:41.708 So don't allow the culture to dictate that to us that we're just gonna give in because the child knows best. 00:38:41.708 --> 00:38:43.885 I mean even just saying that you're all like. 00:38:43.885 --> 00:38:45.163 Well, are you kidding me? 00:38:45.163 --> 00:38:46.989