Leading Your Family Well: What Will Your Family Remember About You?

What will your family remember about you? Long after accomplishments, possessions, and achievements fade, the influence of your character, faith, and example will remain. In this message from Proverbs 4, Pastor Chris Teien explores how godly leaders shape future generations by living faithfully, intentionally teaching God's truth, and building a lasting legacy of faith.

Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/19380307

Key Points:

1. LEAD Through Your Example
 Proverbs 20:7 

Children and those we influence learn more from what they observe than from what they are told. A life marked by integrity, faithfulness, and a sincere pursuit of God leaves a lasting impact on future generations.

2. TEACH God's Truth Intentionally
 Deuteronomy 6:6-9,  Ephesians 6:4,  Proverbs 22:6 

Faith does not pass automatically from one generation to the next. God calls parents and spiritual leaders to intentionally teach His Word through daily conversations, consistent instruction, and personal example. 

3. BUILD a Legacy of Faith
 Proverbs 4:1-9 

Wise leaders invest in future generations by passing on God's wisdom. The greatest inheritance we can leave is not financial wealth but a faith that points others toward Christ and continues long after we are gone.

Personal Stories from Pastor Chris:

•  Reflections on becoming a grandfather and influencing younger generations. 
•  Memories of family members whose example left a lasting impression. 
•  Parenting lessons learned through raising children. 
•  Practical examples of investing in others beyond one's immediate family. 

Notable Quotes:

•  "You are somebody that can lead somebody." 
•  "Long before people listen to our words, they observe our lives." 
•  "We cannot give away what we do not possess." 
•  "Your influence today shapes future generations." 

Actionable Takeaways:

•  Examine the example your daily life is setting. 
•  Look for opportunities to intentionally discuss God's truth with others. 
•  Invest time in someone younger in the faith. 
•  Consider what legacy your current choices are building. 

Scripture References:

•  Proverbs 20:7 
•  Deuteronomy 6:6-9 
•  Ephesians 6:4 
•  Proverbs 22:6 
•  Proverbs 4:1-9 
•  Joshua 24:15 
•  Genesis 6:9 

Keywords:

Christian family, biblical parenting, spiritual leadership, Proverbs, discipleship, faith legacy, Christian influence, family ministry, wisdom, Christian living

Challenge:

Ask yourself: If your family gathered to describe your life years from now, what would they remember most? Choose one practical step this week that will help leave a legacy of faith for future generations.

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Helping you trust God's Word and follow Jesus in everyday life. Learn more at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.church 

Transcript

Chris T 0:00

Father's Day is a time to remember dads, and this message, leading your family well, is actually leading anyone around you well. I know that some of you aren't fathers. Maybe you're mothers, or maybe you didn't have any children, or maybe your grandmothers, or maybe you don't have any family connections in that way. Sometimes families fall apart and it's difficult. So maybe I would start with leading yourself well and then praying about who can you lead in your sphere of influence. Sometimes a neighborhood kid comes along and you have an opportunity to lead them towards Jesus or a young family. Maybe you've got a wisdom and experience and you can be like a leader. So I've reached a really wonderful age now where random small children come up to me and call me grandpa. So it's like, well, thank you, I think. And then, yeah, but actually, my oldest granddaughter is an adult now. So yeah, I wear that with pride. I'm I wouldn't mind being a great grandpa someday. I don't care. I love the fact that God blesses us with children and to see them grow up and to see them choose to do the things in their life is a great thing. But so when you think about this message, don't just think about, well, if it's just for dads, I'm gonna tune out because I'm not a dad. But you are somebody that can lead somebody and God can use you in amazing ways. So think about that. And then think about who you are. God knows everything about you. What are your priorities? Are they really focused on the things of God? You can teach so many things, you can tell children and teenagers and younger people, you can tell people so many things of what to do, of how to live the Christian life, of how to pray and all these things, but you can then not practice it or give a bad example of it and then say things like, do as I say, not as I do. That's not it's not a good way to model the Christian life. And then know that as time goes on, that you will be remembered for the things that you said for your character, for the things that maybe your kids or grandkids taught you or not, caught you doing things that you modeled for them, that you displayed before them. There's a really great thing when we can invest in the lives of kids, when we can invest in the lives of teenagers, when we can invest in the lives of young families and old families. You can be a younger influence to people older than you, or you can be an older influence to people younger than you. But the thing is you gotta be just living the life in Christ, spending time in God's Word, praying for opportunities and being available for whatever opportunity He brings you. Some people think that to lead a family well means that you need to have a perfect family. And I don't think that's the case. I think that you should do everything that you can, even if your family or your stepkids, or whoever else isn't, or your rebellious child or isn't responding, because we live our life before an audience of one and we want to seek and please God no matter what. So we want to do what God wants us to do no matter what other people think. And if the response isn't what we hoped it would be, we need to just keep praying and trusting that eventually our the people that we care about will catch on. So if we're all leaders, and I mentioned this before because we're like in a series in Proverbs on leading, and I've mentioned repeatedly that everybody seems to be leading somebody, where are you leading them to? If you continue to live your life the way you're living your life, where do you think you're going to end up? If you keep doing what you do every day in the way that you do, what is your life going to look like in five years or ten years or when we come to your memorial service or funeral, and if they pass the microphone around and people have an opportunity to say something about your life, what will they say? So Solomon was we mentioned this last week. Solomon was blessed with a great gift of wisdom. So when he had an opportunity to be king, he prayed that when God asked him, I gave him an opportunity to get whatever he wanted, he prayed for wisdom. And God's like, that is an excellent thing to ask for. I will also give you, I'll give you wisdom to lead my people, and I'll also give you the wealth and everything else. So here in Proverbs, we're gonna look primarily at Proverbs chapter four, Solomon is trying to address his son. So in many of the standard Bible translations that says sons, sons, sons, in the New Living Translation where it seeks to say what it means, it says often in the context when it works, says my child, so it applies towards girls too, because we know from the theological concepts and biblical interpretation that these principles can be applied to both boys and girls, men and women, but it is basically why sayings from a father to his son. And those are really good things. Those are really good things to share what's important with a dad sharing with a son or a mom to a daughter or whatever, but just this is what Solomon in his wisdom is doing. And so they're general principles, they're not 100% guaranteed promises, and they often repeat. They actually, as a way of learning and teaching, if you read through the book of Proverbs, they repeat a lot. But just this idea of passing on wisdom. And so we want that kind of wisdom. So we know that this wasn't just Solomon writing stuff down and some Bible collector said, oh, that's pretty interesting. Let's grab that one and put that one in the Bible book, too, because it's a library of 66 books. No, the Old Testament and the New Testament were given to us through the power and the voice of the Holy Spirit. So what's in here matters, and we should pay attention to what it says. So much so that I hope in the month of July that you will take whatever your favorite Bible translation is and read with me through the book of Proverbs. So one Proverb each day for each day in July. There's 31 days in July, there's 31 chapters in Proverbs. So obviously, if it's July 1st, read Proverbs chapter 1. And if it's July 15th, read Proverbs chapter 15. And when we get together on Sunday, I will try to give a message that doesn't cover everything you read, but cover something that you read. And I think it will be a fun way to spend July. So do that with me. Get ready to do that. You can even start now if you want. But some people read the Bible way more than that, and some people will say, Oh, that seems like such a long read. And you can also, if you're not a great reader, you can use like the Bible app, the UVersion Bible app or other things to get it to read it to you or get it to go across the screen and read it. And I can help you find those apps if you ask me. So, all right. So just think about that. Think about where are you headed and what can you do to invest your life to teach others what God has taught you. And finally, what are you doing to build the legacy of faith? So we only get so much time on this earth. We don't know how long it is. We don't know if we're gonna be here for a long time or a short time. But wouldn't it be great if we were faithful every day? I always like to say, because I do believe in the rapture, I always like to say that when Jesus returns, I hope he catches me doing something good. I want to spend the rest of eternity when people say, Oh, what were you doing when Jesus came? saying I was doing something good, you know, that'd be good. All right, number one, lead your lead through your example. Lead through your example. So let's jump to Proverbs 20, verse 7. It says, The righteous lead a blameless life. Blessed are their children after them. So the righteous lead blameless lives. So this word righteous doesn't necessarily mean that you're perfect a hundred percent in every way. It means that your life is directed toward God. So it doesn't necessarily mean you're perfect. And actually, our pure righteousness comes through our relationship with Jesus because we've received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and we have that imputed righteousness and everything. But so here, this principle is saying that the people that have their eyes focused on the things of the Lord, that want to do his will, to live his principles and value the Lord, tried to do everything they can to lead blameless lives. It is a great thing, even when bad things are happening, to know that it's not your fault. I love, I don't like trouble, but I always prefer trouble when I'm blameless, when I know that it wasn't me. There was an accident, I was there, but I couldn't have done anything to cause it nor prevent it. Blameless. The choices that I made, the things that I did, the things that I told the kids or whatever, that to be blameless before the Lord. So Solomon knew that children learn from what they see. They learn what matters by watching us, the things that we value, the thing from our opinions, the things that we say when we're tired, when we're angry, or when we're extremely happy. Children learn how to respond to life by watching us. And long before they listen to our words, they observe our lives. So it's so interesting the things that little kids remember too. So my grandma, my stepgrandma, she was a godly lady. She was a little lady in a big Cadillac. And I remember somebody cut out in front of her, and so my sweet little grandma screamed out, You road apple! I was shocked. I didn't think grandma talked like that. But nonetheless, she didn't, it wasn't a she was a good Baptist woman. She didn't use the swear word, but she sure was angry at that person on the road. And there was another time when one of her daughters, who was a pastor's wife, came to visit and she was driving my parents' car, and she refused to go over the speed limit, which was so odd to me. There were people on her bumper, people that were like honking at her, and she's like, No, the Lord wants us to go to the speed limit. And so I remember that. I'm not going to talk about being blameless when it comes to a speed limit at any time, but nonetheless, we are saved by grace through faith. All right. So righteous, blameless, blessed are their children after them. So it comes from the heart, it comes from the action, it comes from the core of who you are, that you're living your life, pursuing the things of the Lord. And therefore, your children are much more likely to catch it, to live it, to be blessed by it, to raise their children in that way if you were living a good way. And hopefully it will carry on from generation to generation. That would be a good thing. The righteous lead blameless lives. Blessed are their children after them. Doesn't mean it's a perfect home. And many times kids will go through phases. Sometimes they'll be extremely easy and do what you ask them to, and other times they'll be rebellious or sneaky or difficult or have an attitude, or all those things come with different ages and stages, especially in the teenage years. But it means that faithful parents might have rebellious children, and terrible parents might have extremely godly children. God can make a difference. Where honesty is practiced, honesty is lived. A home where forgiveness is practiced, forgiveness is experienced. A home where prayer is valued teaches dependence on God. A home where God's word is respected teaches children where truth is found. So think about this for a minute, okay? So we have Noah, the guy who built the ark. The account of Noah, it says, this is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. That is the account of Noah in a culture that rejected God. It said he preached righteousness while he built the ark. People thought he was crazy for what he was doing, but he just kept doing it. And when it came time for the flood, the Bible makes it clear that it wasn't Noah's decision to lock people out. It says that God closed the door. So Noah, he lived out his life before his family all of those years. And so this is how the account starts. And as far as God is concerned, Noah was a righteous man, blameless. However, if you continue on, Noah had some issues. So that's in Genesis 6. If you move up to Genesis 9, you would see that Noah planted a vineyard and he was eating some of the grapes, and somehow he got drunk, and he was unclothed. And one of his sons came in and saw him that way. Ham came in and saw him, and then there's got to be more to the story. I'm guessing there's got to be some more read between the lines or something. But anyway, he goes and tells his brothers, and so his brothers walk in backwards and cover him up and do what's honorable. And but Noah was mad at what Ham did, and for some reason he cursed Canaan, Ham's youngest son, that said that he'd be a servant to his brothers. And so there is this big mess that came out of this whole thing in his family situation. And sometimes when you're trying to live a righteous, blameless life, you'll slip, you'll fall, you'll make a mistake, and it's not the time to give up. It's not the time to say, I messed up, so I'm not gonna try to do that anymore. They'll just think I'm a hypocrite. Instead, it's the time to ask forgiveness. It's a time to move forward. It's a time to get together and say, Wow, I really made a mistake. I wish I hadn't done that. I'm gonna take steps to make sure that doesn't happen again. I'm sorry that happened. I'm sorry you saw that. I'm sorry I treated you that way. And then you move forward in forgiveness and move forward in the Lord. So Joshua was another example of leading a righteous life. Towards the end of his life, he challenged Israel to choose whom they would serve, and he declared, as for me and my household, as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord. So he didn't tell them exactly what they should do. He committed himself and then said, Follow my leadership. This is what I'm gonna do. This is what you should do. And that's a good thing. That's a good thing as the leader of a household, the leader of a family, to say that as the leader of this household, I'm going, we're going to serve the Lord. And that's going to make a difference on what we choose to listen to in this house, and difference in what we choose to watch in this house, and the way that we do things in this house. And I'm a strong proponent of even if you have an adult child in the house, because they're living there, because they don't have any other place to live, or somehow it's more convenient for them to live there, that even if they're 30 years old, if you're the leader of the household and God has put you in that position, that you still hold those principles and say, as for me, in my home, we're going to serve the Lord, and we're going to honor the Lord, and we're going to do these things. And that's a good thing. So, but to be a parent who loves God, a parent that admits when you're wrong, a parent who asks for forgiveness, a parent who opens God's word and demonstrates what it looks like to follow Christ is good. So I don't think that you should be pretentious and put on a show, but it might be a good idea if you have kids running around the house or whatever, to maybe spend time in God's Word where they can see you. And you don't have to say, Well, I'm reading the Bible, you have to sit here, I'm going to read it to you. There could be time for family devotions and everything. But maybe they'll say, Oh, what are you doing? I'm reading the Bible, I'm reading about this, and it says this. What do you think of that? And draw them into conversation and discussion. That would be good. Or ask them maybe what they've read. I think I made a mistake as a dad with one kid. So kid always wanted to use the car. And I'm like, all right, tell you what, you can use the car to drive. You can drive my car after you have devotions, after you spend time in God's word. And so my thought was that he would go off into his room, read God's word, and then get drive the car. But as time went on, I'm like, you know, if I had that to do over again, I would have said, well, before you take my car, let's spend five minutes or ten minutes together, spending some time in God's Word. Would that be okay? If you give me your time, I'll give you my car for the day kind of thing. To spend that time personally, I think that might have been better. Just depends on what kind of child you have and what kind of thing that they're interested in. But to be an example, to be a leader. So you again, I'm talking about fathers again, but you don't have to be a father. You can be a mother, you can be a friend, you can be an aunt, you can invest in your nieces and nephews or whatever God gives you the opportunity. You can invest in the neighborhood kid. So I remember when I was a kid, we were living in this apartment, and there was this guy upstairs and the next level up or whatever, and he was really into playing chess. So he was teaching me how to play chess. And so my parents were good with it. But I don't know how to, I don't remember how to play chess now. But anyway, that's what he did. So what if it's okay with someone's parents and you can teach them about Jesus or help him to find the good stuff on right now media, those Christian videos that we that library we have through the church. So those are good. All right, number two. Number two, teach God's truth intentionally. You can live the greatest life before someone. You can be a perfect example of what it means to be godly and holy and patient and kind and generous, and you can do everything perfect. And they'll just, if they don't know that it's because of Jesus in you, because of what it says in the word of God, they'll just think that you're a really good person. It's like, oh, that person was so moral. That person was so kind, and they'll have no idea where it came from. They might even say something like, I wish I could be like that, but I'm not. And to let them know that it's Jesus in you that makes you different. It's Jesus in you. And maybe even at the right time you share some of your faith stories, some of your testimony. You don't have to give them every detail of every wrong thing that you ever did, but sometimes it's helpful for people that you're trying to influence to know that there are times that you struggle too. As you say, I didn't say that you used to struggle. I mean, people still have struggles. Life continues on and people have different struggles. So sometimes it's wise to share and then share how you deal with that, how that can be different in your life, in their life, by putting it first. So we'd mentioned this before, but back to the Shema, the children of Israelite would say this all the time. But these commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts from Deuteronomy 6.6. So do you see where Moses starts? He starts with the heart. The commandments aren't supposed to be the list that you live, the commandments aren't supposed to be the guideline that you follow or the rule book that you read every day. God's saying, these commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. You want to do them. It is within you that you want to receive them, you want to hear them, you want to do them, you want to live them, you want to share them because it's on your heart. We cannot give away what we do not possess. We cannot expect children to value God's word if we don't value it ourselves. We can't expect children to pursue and love God if we're not loving and pursuing God ourselves. Because, again, so much more is caught than taught. And then it breaks down to impress them on your children. Impress them. Speaking repeated intentional instruction, and you can impress them as you are doing. Actually, the text talks more about that too. Impress them on your children, talk about them when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. So you can talk about it casually, you can talk about it while you're video gaming, you can talk about it while you're in the car on a trip, you can talk about the things of God while you are fishing or in the boat or at sporting events or whatever. There are times when people open up when young people you're trying to influence have questions. And if you're prayed up and ready, hopefully you can answer their questions in such a way that it can help transform their life or affirm and confirm what they're thinking in their life. It can happen when you are the gatekeeper on the media in your house. So I like to, when I can, uh figure out good programming to watch when people I want to influence in my house are around. So there's not always good stuff, but sometimes if I know someone's coming to stay with us to try to find something that might influence them. So my grandson, he's really into sports, and so we watch the Christian sports movies uh usually that we can find. I think it's always sports movies, usually it's the Christian sports movies, and that's good. It's good. So, what can you do to spark an interest in the things of God in someone's life? What can you do to make a difference? So tie them as symbols on your hands, bind them on your foreheads, write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. Part of that is cultural. I suppose you could wear a cross around your neck. Um, so nonetheless, Christian stuff around your house, those types of things are good. I don't necessarily see you binding them on your foreheads like would be done in that time, but figuratively to have the word of God in your head, like memorizing it, that would be good. So on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. So we actually did that one time. I think we replaced a wall or did something to a wall, and I think we wrote Bible passages underneath it. So if they were to tear that apart, they might find that. But to write them on the door frames. It's good to have scripture art. Hobby lobby has got tons of scripture art stuff that you can put around your house that might inspire people. That could be good. In Ephesians 6, 4, it says, Fathers, don't exasperate your children. Instead, bring them up in the training and the nurture, in the training and instruction of the Lord. Don't exasperate them. Bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. So what this is saying is that you need to help your children to follow the Lord and do what's right without making them, without always telling them everything they do is wrong. You gotta catch them doing stuff right. Supposedly you're supposed to catch them doing things right way more than you tell them you're they're doing something wrong. But the problem is that if a father constantly rides his child, his son, his daughter, or whatever, that they will get exasperated. The New Living Translation says, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord. So you don't want to discourage them. You don't want to make it seem like they just never measure up. You don't want to make it seem like your love is conditional. You don't want them to come to the point where they say, I give up. I don't even know why I bother to try. I just can't please you. And so that can be a really rough thing when a kid or someone you're trying to lead decides to not follow after you or listen to you anymore because you are so harsh and so critical, and you just make it seem like everything they always do is wrong. And you know, though, from experience, there are some kids that it does seem that just about everything they do is wrong. But somehow you have to encourage them and guide them and help them. So I liked, I'm not sure which it was a Josh McDowell book years ago. But he's like, Yeah, so my kid, I told him to sweep the porch. He swept half of it. I said, You did a great job sweeping the porch. Now can you do the other half? And you know, the kids that sweep the stuff under the rug, that's actually a great time to talk about living our life in Jesus and trying not to hide our sins from God. But Proverbs 22, 6 says, start children off on the way they should go, and even when they're old, they will not turn from it. And that is a general promise. But your job, your duty, the thing that you're supposed to do is point them in that right direction, even when they're little to start reading the Bible to them. So we can even help you get children's Bibles and things. But even when before they're able to talk back, even when they're really little to read scripture to them, to tell them about the Lord, it's not brainwashing them to make them Christians, it's helping them to know everything they know about Jesus. So at the right time, the Holy Spirit can help them to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. God works in the lives of us and our children, and at some point they all need to receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior. So think about that for a minute. Think about the things that you would teach. Now, in the front of your bulletin, we have this. The purpose of Rockwell Church is to connect people of all ages to Christ the rock, so that together we can live well lives through worshiping, encouraging, learning, and loving. So are you teaching, will you teach them to be worshipers? Teach them that God deserves first place in their lives. So in a world that encourages people to live for themselves, to know, to teach them that they should live for God, before the audience of one that they should live before the Lord. Because worship is obeying God, trusting God, thanking God, praying to God, putting God first, moving into action to serve the Lord, because it's all worship. So when I would go to work, I would work as unto the Lord, I would do my best because that wasn't that is an act of worship. So when I come here every Sunday, it's an act showing up is an act of worship. So you coming here today or watching or listening is an act of worship. And so we want to put God first. We want to worship God. That is our priority. So are we worshiping? So we need to teach them to keep learning. So it's not that you just learn something and then you're done. You need to keep learning, keep growing. Or as you get older, you might need to keep being reminded so you don't forget. But one of the major themes of Proverbs is the pursuit of wisdom, and wise people never stop learning. Learning from God's word, learning from godly people, learning from mistakes, and learning to remain humble and teachable. So if you stop learning, you stop growing, and then you get stuck. So, but instead, we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, all our mind. And then Jesus said, love our neighbor as ourself. So we've gone from learning to loving. So we need to love God and we need to love people, and that should be our motivation. That should be why we want to be Christian leaders. That's why we want to influence people for Christ. So a love that helps us to serve and care and make a difference in the world. So if we teach our children to worship God, encourage others, keep learning God's truth, and love God and people, we will have given them something far more valuable than money, possessions, or success. We'll have given them a foundation for a lifetime. We'll have given them the keys to success, really, a true success. I mean, the world thinks that success is you've got a position, you've got possessions, you've got a great house, you've got all this stuff. That's success. But actually, no, you could not have any of those things and have a tight walk with the Lord. And that's true success, eternal success that makes a difference. And then finally, number three, build a legacy of faith. Build a legacy of faith. So in Proverbs chapter four, this is where it comes down to Solomon. He's given these instructions. So you can look at Proverbs 2, and you see that Solomon is given instructions on the moral benefits of wisdom. And verse chapter 2, verse 6, the Lord gives wisdom, from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds success in store for the upright. He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. What a great thing to teach your son. What a great thing to help to build into a legacy of faith. So in Proverbs chapter 4, verse 1, Solomon says, Listen, my sons, to a father's instruction. Pay attention and gain understanding. I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching. For I too was a son to my father, still tender and cherished by my mother. So Solomon's dad was David. So listen up. And so then he's going to continue on. And verse 4, then he taught me. And he said to me, So he's talking about David, about his dad. Then he taught me, and he said to me, Take hold of my words with all your heart. Keep my commands and you will live. Get wisdom, get understanding. Do not forget my words or turn away from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you. Love you. Love her, and she will watch over you. So now wisdom is being personified as a woman to pursue and with great value. And then verse 7 says, The beginning of wisdom is this. Get wisdom, though it costs all you have, get understanding. So Bible translators, they looked at that and they're like, what is this even saying? And they're like, I think what it's saying is the beginning of wisdom is this. Get wisdom. So if you want to start getting wisdom, you need to start pursuing wisdom. You need to start going after wisdom. You need to start learning about wisdom. And Proverbs is a great way to do that. So what are some of these principles that about wisdom? Verse 8 about wisdom. Cherish her and she will exalt you. Embrace her and she will honor you. She will give you a garland to grace your head and present you with a glorious crown. So that's honorable. That is something that would be desired, something that makes a difference. In Proverbs chapter 3, in Proverbs chapter 3, what are some of the principles that Solomon laid down that you would have found in chapter 3 that would make a difference in someone's life, even today? Okay? So with uh Proverbs 3, 5, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, and all your ways submit to him, and he will make your path straight. So that is a key life verse for many people that I know that we put God first. We trust in him with all our heart, we do his will more than ours, and then he will show us the way. He will guide our paths, he will help us on the journey of life. Verse 9 honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops, and then your barns will be filled to overflowing, your vats will brim over with new wine. So the principle is as you are living your life to put God first with your finances. The first fruits were like the farmer would give of the first part of the harvest, not the end of the harvest. So it was trusting God. If the rest of the harvest went bad and you gave to God first, you know, you're putting God first because that's where your trust was. So to teach the people that we're trying to influence that honoring God with our finances is a huge thing, and God blesses that. And that's clear in the Old Testament and the New Testament, some of those principles. And there's many other principles that we will find as we go through the book of Proverbs. So now just think about what happens if we all drop the ball and say, well, someone else will do it, or the church will do it. The church can't do it because we don't have enough time. So there's no way that we have enough time with whatever we have, a half hour or 40 minutes of children's church, and then a Wednesday night program and Sunday school to teach your kids about everything to be godly. So you have to do it. And some people are like, well, send my kid to the Christian school. If you can find a Christian school that works, then you still have to invest in your kids and teach them. And you can homeschool, and that's a lot of work too, but you can get Bible-based curriculum, that helps, but that's another thing. Public school, you got to do the work too, because they're not gonna do it. But if it doesn't happen, then it's gonna be like Judges 2, verse 10. After the whole, after that, whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, they died. Another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. We don't want that. We don't want the next generation to grow up and know nothing about Christ, know nothing about the things of God. Now think on the flip side of that. Think about if you're influencing, you're investing, you're caring, you're doing all this stuff, then what could be the result? You could be like John in 3rd John, who can say something like, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the church. Truth. No greater joy than hearing your kids say, Mom taught me to trust God, or Dad showed me what faith looked like, or grandma taught me to pray, or grandpa taught me to love God's word, all those things, to have a faith that trusts God, a wisdom that follows God, a character that honors God, and a love that serves others. I got this interesting story in my email yesterday, and it's not about Father's Day, but it is interesting, and I think it's helpful. So there is a Scottish lighthouse keeping tradition story told that says, for 31 years a lighthouse keeper tended the light off the Scottish coast. Night after night he climbed the iron stairs, trimmed the wick, polished the lens, and kept the flame burning through the gales that rattled the tower like a tin can. Historians later noted that because of his remote posting, the man almost never actually saw a ship pass safely by. He kept the light burning for vessels he could not observe, for sailors whose gratitude he would never hear, for a harbor he could barely make out on clear days. When a journalist once asked him whether the isolation ever made him doubt the point of his work, he reportedly said, The light doesn't need me to see the ships. It just needs to keep shining. Think about that. We can try to teach our kids and might not hear the response or see the response that we want. We can do all of this stuff before the Lord. And even in church ministry sometimes, and we can not not experience the results that we hope for. But we know that God knows, God cares, and God knows that what we're doing is right. And by constantly shining our light, we're helping people, even though we may not realize it. Maybe on the other side of heaven we'll find out how our light shining out made a difference in people's lives. But let me pray. Jesus, I thank you for these people. Thank you for Father's Day. I pray that you'd help every father here to be a great, wonderful, godly father that influences people. God, I pray for the fatherless, for those fathers, for those people who have lost their fathers, didn't have a good father experience. God, we pray that you, as our heavenly father, would make up for all of those shortcomings. I pray that there's anybody here that doesn't know you as their Lord and Savior, that they would pursue that, that they would seek, that they would grab one of those how to find God New Testaments, that they would look in the front and see what it means to be saved and how to be saved, or that they would ask us, that they would talk to us, that we could have a conversation that would lead them to Jesus. Lord, we just thank you so much for everything that you've done and what you're going to do through our lives in Jesus' name. Amen.