WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:02.720 Welcome and thanks for joining us at First Conyers. 00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:06.160 Wherever you're watching or listening from, we're so glad you're here. 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:10.640 We pray this message encourages your heart and strengthens your walk with Christ. 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:16.800 If you would like to know more about the mission and activities at First Conyers, please visit our website at firstconiers.com. 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:18.000 Good morning. 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:19.839 Here we go. 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:27.199 I'm going to ask you to take your Bibles and open them to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 6, this morning. 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:37.039 I told a couple of people this morning that I think this may be the most important sermon that I will be teaching in this whole year. 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:47.280 Because it speaks of what we've seen represented this morning, and that is the act of passing our faith along to the next generation. 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:52.880 The fact is, is that we all have an appointment with God. 00:00:53.119 --> 00:00:53.759 Amen. 00:00:54.479 --> 00:01:16.480 And we all are going to be gone at some point, but the challenge and the commission that He has given to us is that we raise the next generation, teaching them and demonstrating them to them our faith and our love for Christ and our obedience to him, that they have that infused into them as they're growing up. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:30.079 So this morning the message is directed to those who had dedicated their babies this morning, those who maybe have some that are older in the home, still raising your kids. 00:01:30.640 --> 00:01:38.400 It's addressed to those of us who are grandparents, who, if we messed up the first time around, praise God, he's given us a second chance. 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:39.280 Amen. 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:46.319 It's speaking to all of those that will be having children someday into the future. 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:55.439 So I'm going to ask you to read along with me as I read in Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 4 to 9, and we're going to break this down a little bit this morning. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:02:02.000 Moses is writing, and he says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 00:02:02.719 --> 00:02:08.800 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:14.319 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:34.159 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk to them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:39.360 You shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates. 00:02:39.599 --> 00:02:40.159 Let's pray. 00:02:40.319 --> 00:02:58.479 Father, we pray that, God, by the Holy Spirit, Lord, we would have understanding, and God, not only understanding, but the Holy Spirit will be working in our hearts, God, to move us to more focus on doing what the Word of God tells us to do with our children, the next generation. 00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:01.759 Father, we ask this in Jesus' name and for His sake. 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:02.719 Amen. 00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:05.759 Now, I may be right in this statement. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:13.199 Generally, I think every parent or grandparent has something they want to pass on to the next generation. 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:29.120 A legacy that they would want that next generation to receive from them, their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, that maybe they can build on what the parent or grandparent has established and take it even further. 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:34.400 Sometimes we call that a legacy, sometimes we call that an inheritance. 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:38.080 My kids know not to expect that. 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:44.319 But sometimes we want to pass on an item of value. 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:49.039 Maybe it's a passion that we have, or maybe it's a hobby. 00:03:49.360 --> 00:04:00.080 I keep telling my grandkids, of which I have six of them, that the one who begins to play the banjo will receive my two precious banjos. 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:05.120 Thus far, none of them have taken up that challenge. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:10.719 Something to pass along to the coming generation. 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:12.159 Can I tell you this? 00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:35.600 As Christ's followers, those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, we have something more precious than any material item, passion, hobby, anything more precious and more valuable in all of the world to pass on to our children, that there's nothing that could offer, we could offer that would even compare to that. 00:04:36.160 --> 00:05:01.199 And that thing that we have is for them to know God the way that we know God, to experience that personal relationship with God and to enjoy the freedom that we have in Christ as we've been saved and cleansed from our sins, that they might know him and know him through his word as he has revealed himself to us and then personally as they walk with him and trust him. 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:14.560 The setting for the book of Deuteronomy is as the children of Israel had come out of 400 years of captivity in Egypt and God had released them, had emancipated them from slavery and bondage in Egypt. 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:19.600 We know the story that they wandered around in the desert for 40 years. 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:30.079 And most of that generation that came out of Egypt never inherited what God had promised to the nation of Israel, and that was the promised land in Canaan. 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:35.279 And Moses is standing there at the river's edge, if you will. 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:40.800 He's there in the valley, and he's writing this, the Valley of Moab. 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:43.920 It's right where the Jordan River meets the Dead Sea. 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:53.439 Forty years of following, and Moses himself is not going to be able to enter into the promised land because he had disobeyed God. 00:05:54.079 --> 00:05:56.639 Moses is about to pass on this leadership. 00:05:56.800 --> 00:06:05.600 He's passing the mantle on to the next generation of leadership that would be Joshua, that would lead the nation of Israel into the promised land. 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:10.240 And Deuteronomy, in a sense, is Moses' last words. 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:12.160 It's kind of his last command. 00:06:12.319 --> 00:06:20.560 He's repeating the law that had been given to him on Mount Sinai to that generation that's about to enter into Canaan. 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:34.560 And he's exhorting them as they go into what would be considered a polytheistic nation where there were many gods that the people of Canaan worshiped, Bel, Moab, and others. 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:40.160 Detestable acts of worship as they were worshiping these false gods. 00:06:40.560 --> 00:06:54.240 And so he's passing on to them in Deuteronomy a reminder that God is to be the forefront and the center, and they're to know his word and obey his word, live by his word and pass his word on to the next generation. 00:06:54.560 --> 00:06:57.600 Otherwise, they'll become like all of the other nations. 00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:10.240 And we see throughout Israel's history that they didn't always, or many times, most of the time, they didn't adhere to what Moses had told them to follow in the law. 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:18.079 Deuteronomy chapter 6 kind of stands at the heart of Israel's covenant life with God. 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:32.240 Moses calls the people there to, in this passage that we just read, to wholehearted devotion to the Lord and to a deliberate pattern of teaching his truth in the home to that next generation. 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:40.240 The passage moves as we look at it, it moves from initially from knowing God to loving God. 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:51.120 From loving God to treasuring his word that he's given to us, to teaching his word and displaying his word in every area of their life. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:08:07.519 So it's not just a knowing of God, it's not just a knowledge of God, it's not just a passing on information about God, but it's living this life out in relationship, covenant relationship with God before that next generation. 00:08:08.480 --> 00:08:18.079 As we look at this passage, the first two verses, verses four and five, it speaks of knowing the God that you worship. 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:30.399 I'm struck by so many times we may act as though we're worshiping, but many times we have no clue of this God in whom we worship, who claims to be the true and only God. 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:37.759 Again, he says in verse 4, he says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:51.440 Before Moses begins to speak anything about the home or raising the children in that heritage of the faith, he first begins with speaking about God, the one true God. 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:58.960 You see, faithful worship, to worship God, because that word worship means to worship. 00:08:59.360 --> 00:09:01.120 He is worth our worship. 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:02.000 Amen? 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:16.080 And our worship is not limited to just what we do on Sunday mornings, but it is an everyday act 724 in our lives that we're called to worship God because He alone is worth our worship. 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:24.240 But this faithful worship begins with knowing this God and knowing who he is as is contained in the scripture. 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:32.159 Again, Israel was going into the land of Canaan, and they were going to be among these nations that worship these false gods. 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:39.039 Just as in our nation today, in our culture, there are many who worship false gods. 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:47.360 They may not consider them like Moab or Baal, but every human being worships a God. 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:50.799 We worship something. 00:09:51.200 --> 00:09:54.559 There's something that we give worth to and value to. 00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:59.679 But God calls us to worship Him first and foremost priority. 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:17.519 The Bible describes God, or God self-describes Himself in Scripture as a God who is sovereign, meaning that he's in absolute control of everything that happens in the world, much of which we may not understand, but we have the comfort of knowing that God is sovereign. 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:23.519 There's absolutely nothing that happens in our world that escapes the view and the knowledge of God. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:25.759 That he's self-existent. 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:33.600 He wasn't created in the image of some mind and carved into some idol to worship, but he is self-existent. 00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:35.279 He had no beginning. 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:38.399 He always has been, and he's an eternal God. 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:40.240 He describes him as. 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:41.360 God is spirit. 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:44.240 We know that from John chapter 4. 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:46.799 We know that God is eternal. 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:50.399 That's why we can have the hope of eternal life. 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:54.000 Christ is raised from the dead and he is eternal. 00:10:54.080 --> 00:11:00.480 And therefore, if we are in Christ and we die in Christ, we too have the hope of eternal life. 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:12.000 The other thing we find out about God in Scripture is that while God is all of this all-powerful being, he's also very personal. 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:20.879 He's transcendent, but yet he is imminent in our lives, and he's active and working not only in the world, but in our lives. 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:28.399 The Bible says that God possesses all knowledge, that he has all power, he's present in all places. 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:34.240 And here's the one thing I love about the nature and character of God is that he is unchangeable. 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:43.679 If I can trust him today, that means I can trust him tomorrow and the next day because he never changes. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:46.720 There are many false gods. 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:57.039 I traveled to India many, many times, and in the nation of India, they worship some 350 million different gods. 00:11:57.679 --> 00:12:04.320 As you travel throughout India, they're polytheistic, they believe in reincarnation. 00:12:04.559 --> 00:12:10.960 And as you travel through from one region to the other, it may be a cow that they worship here, and it may be a monkey that they worship there. 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:21.200 And I won't forget the one time driving up a mountain road and I see trucks ahead of me, and in the back of these dump trucks were thousands of bananas. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:33.279 And as the truck was going up the road, they're throwing bananas out on the road, and there are just hundreds, if not thousands, of monkeys that are coming down to eat these bananas. 00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:35.759 First time I'd ever seen that in my life. 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:38.960 They worship the monkey. 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:46.480 And they have a hope in these gods that are everything that the real God, or the real God is everything that they are not. 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:56.399 This God that is described in Scripture is a God who exists in tri-unity, meaning the doctrine of the Trinity. 00:12:56.559 --> 00:13:03.919 We speak of God being one God in three persons, and these three persons having the same essence, but they're one God. 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:07.279 And my mind cannot comprehend that. 00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:10.240 But that's what the Bible teaches us. 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:21.440 The Bible does not teach us that God is a God that morphs from one form to another, God the Father here, God the Son there, and God the Holy Spirit. 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:22.879 We call that modalism. 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:24.399 That's a heresy. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:30.559 But God is one God in three persons and far beyond our capacity to understand. 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:34.639 There are a lot of illustrations that many have used to try to describe that. 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:38.159 But in all of those illustrations, they break down. 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:44.960 I like to say it like this: God is infinite, and I am finite. 00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:52.480 If I were infinite and could fully understand the nature of God, then I myself would be what? 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:54.080 Infinite. 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:59.840 The heresy doctrine that goes around now of the little gods, that we're little gods. 00:13:59.919 --> 00:14:00.559 We're not. 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:06.240 We're human beings created in the image of God to reflect his nature and his character. 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:17.200 1 John chapter 2, verse 23, who John writes and he says, No one denies the Son, no one who denies the Son has the Father. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:21.200 Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:33.679 God self-describes himself to the nation of Israel there on Mount Sinai in Exodus chapter 34, where Moses had cried out, God, I want to see you, I want to see your glory. 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:59.120 And so the Lord passes by him and he says, The Lord the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generation. 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:05.679 This is a God he self-explains, self-reveals himself in this way. 00:15:06.159 --> 00:15:23.279 So as we worship God and we think of worshiping God, not only in the context of corporate worship, but in the context of our daily life, can I say this that I believe the Bible teaches very clearly that biblical faith leaves no room for divided worship? 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:30.480 Biblical faith leaves no room for divided worship. 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:40.000 Notice in verse 5 what he calls him to, he says, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. 00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:44.080 The heart is that seed of our affections. 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:55.279 We're to love him with all of our heart, with all of our soul, which would relate to the whole of life, and we're to worship him with all of our might. 00:15:55.519 --> 00:15:58.080 That's the strength and all of our resources that we have. 00:15:58.240 --> 00:15:58.960 Notice this. 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:00.159 I love this. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:09.120 That the emphasis on be on obedience to God should flow from a love for and of God rather than out of mere fear. 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:12.399 He starts by saying this, you shall what? 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:20.159 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your soul. 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:28.879 You see, it's that love for God that causes us to worship him and in a life of obedience. 00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:36.240 Jesus said in John chapter 14, 15, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:46.480 He says again in verse 21 of that same chapter, whoever has my commandments and keep them, he it is who loves me. 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:53.919 And he who loves me will be loved by my father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. 00:16:55.679 --> 00:16:58.480 John 14, 23, that same passage. 00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:09.440 Jesus answered them and said, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him, and he will come to him and make our home with him. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:18.000 Bottom line, to all three of those verses and other verses that I could quote, that a demonstration of a love for God is what? 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:20.960 Y'all weren't listening to me. 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:22.960 You want me to repeat those three verses? 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:27.200 A demonstration of loving God is to be what? 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:29.519 Obedient to God. 00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:32.079 He says, if you love me, you'll obey me. 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:37.119 And so as we examine our lives, are we living in obedience to God? 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:38.720 Or would I say it this way? 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:41.200 Are we striving to live in obedience to God? 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:43.680 Or are we desiring to live in obedience to God? 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:48.000 Because not one of us in the room is in absolute obedience, 724. 00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:48.799 Amen. 00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:51.440 But the desire is there. 00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:59.039 God does not merely want a slice of pie in our lives. 00:18:01.279 --> 00:18:04.799 You've probably seen this illustration of a pie sliced. 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:13.039 He demands and requires and deserves the whole of our life. 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:28.000 Romans 12, 1 says, I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies, that's your whole being, as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:34.640 He makes the declaration that he is Lord. 00:18:36.640 --> 00:18:38.400 Lord means he's overall. 00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:42.079 Lord means is he's the big kahuna. 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:42.799 Okay? 00:18:43.519 --> 00:18:44.400 He is it. 00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:54.480 So often in our lives we want to accept him as our Savior, but not yield to him as Lord in our lives. 00:18:55.119 --> 00:19:09.359 That's why in Romans chapter 10, verse 9, that we know this verse that it says, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:24.880 A prerequisition to being saved is to acknowledge, to yield to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and to say, Jesus, as I trust you right now, I'm saying you are Lord of my life. 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:25.759 Amen. 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:36.480 Some of us this morning may have, we've traveled along the Christian life, have allowed other things to settle in that have become Lord of our life. 00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:41.759 And today could be a day that you say, God, I'm putting you first and foremost again in my life. 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:46.880 And thank God if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just and forgive us of all our sins. 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:47.759 Amen. 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:50.319 So as parents, let me say this. 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:55.519 Before we ask the question, are my children following God? 00:19:55.839 --> 00:20:00.960 I first need to ask the question, do my children see that I genuinely love God? 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:07.839 Before asking the question, are my children serving God, following God? 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:13.039 I need to ask, do my children see me genuinely loving God? 00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:16.880 Let me put a little caveat in here. 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:31.200 While these first things that I'm going to mention are very important, and we're encouraged to these, it's not just outward acts that demonstrate our love and our obedience to God. 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:37.279 You see, it's not just getting engaged in church activity. 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:38.480 Those are good. 00:20:39.920 --> 00:20:42.799 But that doesn't mean that I genuinely love God. 00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:52.160 The Lions Club gets actively involved, and I'm not slamming the Lions Club, please believe me. 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:53.599 Don't get offended. 00:20:53.839 --> 00:20:55.759 The Rotary Club, all these different things. 00:20:55.839 --> 00:20:59.920 They do good acts, but that doesn't indicate that they have a love for God. 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:05.200 You see, the unregenerate person can do many good things. 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:09.839 But that itself doesn't demonstrate that they have a love for God. 00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:19.039 I'll tell you what our children need to see and examine, that would be a good measuring rod, is how am I treating my wife in the home? 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:22.400 How am I treating my husband in the home? 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:24.240 Oh me or oh my. 00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:33.200 You see, the children pick up on that far more than what they ever hear in church, as we are professing believers. 00:21:33.839 --> 00:21:38.400 How do my kids see me treating my Samaritan neighbor? 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:45.200 You know the story of the good Samaritan. 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:53.440 There was a hate for the Samaritans among the Jews, there was racial discourse there, there was prejudice there, and it cut both ways. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.079 My kids witness that. 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:07.279 How am I displaying the fruit of the Spirit in my home? 00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:14.079 And of course, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:15.839 How am I displaying that? 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:21.519 But not only am I to be teaching the Word of God, I'm supposed to keep the Word of God in my heart. 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:22.960 Look at verse 6. 00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:29.920 He says, and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:37.680 Before God's word can be taught through us to our children, it must be working in us first. 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:42.559 Are y'all lively this morning? 00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:47.759 Are you I need some amens here? 00:22:47.839 --> 00:22:49.519 There should be some agreement with this. 00:22:50.960 --> 00:23:00.000 Before I can teach my children, it's got to be working in me also because a kid will pick up on that in a nanosecond. 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:07.920 It implies this knowing and treasuring the living word of God. 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:14.480 You see, I can't faithfully pass on the knowledge of the Word of God until I know the Word of God. 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:19.279 Until I spend time in it to know this God of the world. 00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:24.319 Moses doesn't merely say that we're to keep these words in our mind. 00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:26.240 He says, but on our heart. 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:40.559 You see, Scripture is not just simply an information, a set of information, a set of incantations or or or things to say. 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:42.559 It's far more than that. 00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:52.640 It's not just information to master, but it's truth that should shape our life, our convictions, our desires, our decisions, and our lives. 00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:58.480 So I tell people all the time, man, you've got to settle whether or not this book is the word of God. 00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:05.039 Because if it's not the word of God to you, then you're going to pick and choose what you want to adhere to and what you don't. 00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:09.200 You see, this is the word of God, every bit of it. 00:24:09.839 --> 00:24:17.519 Kids again recognize the difference between a faith that's merely discussed and a faith that's genuinely lived out in the home. 00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:20.160 Parents, can I say this to you? 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:22.400 And this applies to grandparents as well. 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:23.920 Your job's not over. 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:32.960 I told my wife several years ago as our kids began to reach adulthood that adulthood never, parenthood never stops. 00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:41.119 But being a parent never stops. 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:48.240 Of course, now mine think they can parent me rather than me parenting them. 00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:58.160 It's reminded me every now and then, listen, I brought you in this world, I can take you out of this world. 00:25:00.319 --> 00:25:06.319 The greatest spiritual influence in your children and your grandchildren is in your home. 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:18.000 You see, they may not hear, they may not grasp what they hear, but they will certainly grasp what's genuinely lived out in the home. 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:29.680 I had the incredible privilege of being raised by parents who demonstrated this, in particular my father. 00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:36.000 Those of you who knew my dad know that he was a godly man, very simple man. 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:39.920 We called him, we said he lived his life in the key of G. 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:42.960 If you're a musician, you understand what that means. 00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:45.200 Just a simple guy. 00:25:45.920 --> 00:25:50.000 But for our family, he prioritized corporate worship. 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:54.640 I always like to say I cut my teeth in the nursery, and I did. 00:25:55.680 --> 00:26:04.559 But it was a priority in our household that gathering together with the saints was going to be a regular habit in our home. 00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:11.359 It wasn't an option that if Georgia Bulldogs played late on Saturday night, we slept in on Sunday morning. 00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:17.680 You see, he was demonstrating to this. 00:26:17.839 --> 00:26:18.720 Now I'll be honest with you. 00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:20.480 Sometimes I hated it. 00:26:21.039 --> 00:26:21.680 I did. 00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:22.799 I hated it. 00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:24.880 And your kids are gonna hate it too. 00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:29.440 But I did not dictate in our house when and we did not go to church. 00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:31.920 Can I say that again? 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:34.240 My parents did. 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:42.319 He demonstrated his love for Christ while giving as the scriptures command us to give. 00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:50.799 I can remember in the early 70s, mid-70s, when there wasn't a hardly a lick of construction going on in the state of Georgia. 00:26:51.119 --> 00:26:55.599 And my dad was unemployed for about 13 months as an electrician. 00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:59.920 And I can remember at that time the Converse All-Stars came out. 00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:00.960 Remember those? 00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:07.440 You were cool with a pair of Converse All-Stars, white, and Levi 501s. 00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:10.319 I wish I could still get into Levi 501s. 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:13.279 Remember the button-up fly? 00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:19.920 Yeah, those things rolled up, and I wanted a pair of Converse All-Star tennis shoes. 00:27:21.200 --> 00:27:21.759 No way. 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:23.119 They were about 12 bucks in. 00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:29.680 I think, how many of you parents are brave enough to admit that you probably spend 80, 85 bucks on a pair of Converse All-Stars? 00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:30.400 Maybe. 00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:31.680 It's high. 00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:33.200 They're not that expensive. 00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:35.680 They're more than$10, I can tell you that. 00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:50.480 And I remember that Saturday, seeing my dad sitting at the kitchen table, and he was writing a check to Macedonia Baptist Church in the amount of$25. 00:27:52.400 --> 00:27:54.799 And I made the smart aleck comment. 00:27:56.079 --> 00:27:57.759 I was a teenager, okay? 00:27:58.079 --> 00:27:59.279 Young teenager. 00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:04.799 You can write a check to the church, but you can't buy me tennis shoes. 00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:17.680 My dad looked up at me and said, son, I'm not going to miss out on the blessings of God for 10 cents on the dollar. 00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:21.279 He wasn't talking about material blessing. 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:25.119 It was talking about faithfulness and obedience. 00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:29.920 I can remember watching my mom serve in so many different ways. 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:32.880 We had a lady down the road who was in an abusive home. 00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:34.559 Her name was Louise. 00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:43.359 Mother was instrumental in leading Louise to Christ, and every single Sunday morning, Louise's husband would not allow her to drive. 00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:48.640 Every Sunday morning, my mother went and picked her up and would take her back home after church. 00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:51.119 I can remember that, plain as day, serving. 00:28:51.200 --> 00:28:55.279 And I'm not talking just roles in the church, but serving others. 00:28:55.759 --> 00:29:02.079 I'll go on loving the law, so this is being hospitable, sharing Christ with others. 00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:06.480 Are we the same at home as we are at church? 00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:08.480 It's a huge question. 00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:12.559 Am I the same at home as I am at church? 00:29:12.720 --> 00:29:15.599 Because I can be at church and go, hey brother, how are you doing? 00:29:15.759 --> 00:29:16.880 This and that and the other. 00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:22.160 And I get in the car and I am just a jerk to my wife and to my kids. 00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:22.960 Not me. 00:29:23.119 --> 00:29:25.759 My wife would beat me up if I was a jerk to her. 00:29:27.039 --> 00:29:29.039 But you get what I'm saying, right? 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:36.400 Are my children witnessing, are my grandchildren witnessing me the same person at home as I am in church? 00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:38.799 You see, it carries out in all of life. 00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:39.920 It should. 00:29:41.200 --> 00:29:44.160 Verse 7, that we're to teach the word to our children. 00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:45.359 Notice what he says. 00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:56.799 He says, You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk to them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise. 00:29:57.359 --> 00:30:03.599 You see, this word diligently carries the idea of sharpening through repeated instruction. 00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:07.279 How many of you understand that a kid doesn't get it when you say one time? 00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:08.799 Amen. 00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:12.799 Husbands don't get it when their wives say it one time either. 00:30:15.680 --> 00:30:22.880 Parents, biblical discipleship of your children, which by the way, it's your primary responsibility as a parent to disciple your children. 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:28.240 The church is there to help, and there's a very important role, and we invest a lot into that. 00:30:28.559 --> 00:30:31.839 We invest a lot of time, we invest a lot of resources. 00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:35.359 We want to do the best we can with your children. 00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:39.920 But the primary area is to the parent. 00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:45.519 And it's got to be intentional, it's got to be persistent, and it's got to be repetitive. 00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:52.000 I'm excited about what we've got coming up in September. 00:30:52.240 --> 00:31:00.559 As Pastor Abiolier and his writing team is writing curriculum to go along with the teaching through the Gospel of John on Sunday mornings. 00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:04.000 I'll be doing that expositionally, and we have topics. 00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:05.680 I think 77 topics. 00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:06.640 Is that right, Pastor? 00:31:06.799 --> 00:31:08.000 82 topics. 00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:09.359 88. 00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:11.920 We'll be in the good book of John for a long time. 00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:34.720 I'm excited because the curriculum for the children and our students is being adapted to their age as the adults are learning the topics of the different topics that are hit in the book of John, so that you as a parent, when you go home with your kid or on the way home, you can talk to them about those things that we learned together in our small groups. 00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:36.480 That's exciting to me. 00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:40.799 Parents, you need to get in a small group. 00:31:43.200 --> 00:31:48.079 Spiritual formation rarely happens accidentally or by osmosis. 00:31:50.240 --> 00:31:53.839 Parents must deliberately teach biblical truth. 00:31:54.079 --> 00:31:58.319 Don't take the position, I'm gonna just let my kid figure it out. 00:31:59.599 --> 00:32:13.920 Because typically, an unregenerate, which they are, and you we were too, we were all born into sin, typically it's not gonna lead to a higher understanding if you just leave it up to them. 00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:17.680 Especially don't leave it up to TikTok. 00:32:20.079 --> 00:32:21.920 You see, teaching happens every day. 00:32:22.079 --> 00:32:27.279 He says when you sit in your house, it just means ordinary moments, when you're in your house together. 00:32:27.519 --> 00:32:29.680 Speak of the truths of the Word of God. 00:32:29.920 --> 00:32:34.559 Find ways to use illustrations to say, you know, isn't God, yeah, God's pretty cool. 00:32:34.640 --> 00:32:36.880 Look how He created that butterfly. 00:32:37.440 --> 00:32:42.240 There are ways that we talk this when we talk, when we walk by the way. 00:32:42.319 --> 00:32:45.359 This just means life along the way as we go. 00:32:46.160 --> 00:32:56.960 It could be on the soccer field where somebody trips your kid up and you're like, next time you go out there, kick him hard. 00:32:57.279 --> 00:32:58.799 No, not really. 00:33:01.599 --> 00:33:06.160 You know, it just learn to teach him good sportsmanship, to forgive. 00:33:10.319 --> 00:33:16.000 When you lie down, that means at the end of the day, when you rise, the beginning of the day, in everything, all of our house. 00:33:16.079 --> 00:33:22.400 Can I tell you that though everything else is influencing your kids that you usually have no control of? 00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:26.720 Parents, it's your responsibility to govern that. 00:33:26.799 --> 00:33:30.079 There's TV, there's social media, there's friends, there's school. 00:33:30.240 --> 00:33:34.720 How many of you with kids have looked at their TikTok views lately? 00:33:36.559 --> 00:33:37.839 You ought to. 00:33:39.599 --> 00:33:47.440 Much of what you see on many of these social media platforms is almost X-rated pornography. 00:33:48.160 --> 00:34:02.079 And I'm not just railing against it, but but they are being they are being taught by a generation that has no idea of God or an honoring of God, and that stuff is being continually poured to them. 00:34:02.240 --> 00:34:09.920 Don't feel bad if you're a parent and your 12-year-old says, I want a smartphone and I want to get connected to TikTok, and you say no. 00:34:10.880 --> 00:34:12.320 And they say, Why? 00:34:12.639 --> 00:34:20.079 Because I love you and I want to protect you from the influence that's out there so that it does not infect your life. 00:34:21.039 --> 00:34:23.199 I'm gonna start preaching in a minute. 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:32.800 Why do we think we have to put a thousand, twelve hundred dollar device in our kid, in our kids' hands that is just perpetuating their mind with this garbage? 00:34:35.599 --> 00:34:38.960 Well, I'm sounding like an independent Baptist preacher this morning, aren't I? 00:34:39.440 --> 00:34:41.280 Sweating like one too. 00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:47.599 Parents, let me encourage you, have conversations with the kids. 00:34:48.079 --> 00:34:54.000 We don't just tell them, although sometimes it's really only when we can tell them, because I said so. 00:34:56.079 --> 00:35:00.480 But it's why have I placed these boundaries in your life? 00:35:00.800 --> 00:35:02.800 Number one, because I love you. 00:35:03.519 --> 00:35:07.039 And I don't want them to impact you in a negative way. 00:35:08.960 --> 00:35:16.960 Why am I instructing you to forgive your brother or sister when they have hurt you? 00:35:17.199 --> 00:35:20.079 Well, because God forgives us. 00:35:23.039 --> 00:35:27.440 Why am I teaching you to say I'm sorry, even though you go, I'm sorry? 00:35:30.800 --> 00:35:35.440 Because God wants us to confess our sins to Him. 00:35:35.679 --> 00:35:41.039 You see, there are ways to teach the truths of the Word of God without ever having to open a verse. 00:35:42.000 --> 00:35:45.119 Faith should not be confined on Sunday mornings. 00:35:47.199 --> 00:35:50.559 Make the word visible in your life, verses eight and nine. 00:35:51.119 --> 00:36:03.039 He says, You shall bind them that is the word of God as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as four frontals between your eyes, and you shall write them on the doorpost of your house and on your gates. 00:36:03.519 --> 00:36:11.199 Now, this later turned into a thing among Jews, particularly the Pharisees, where they would walk around and Jesus condemned this. 00:36:11.280 --> 00:36:24.000 They would take a little leather box that they would make and they'd strap it to their forehead or to their wrist, and Jesus said, Hey man, you wear all these big factories everywhere, but you're nothing more than a brood of vipers. 00:36:24.320 --> 00:36:27.199 You want to do it for the outside, but there's nothing inside. 00:36:27.360 --> 00:36:40.400 But but the intention of that when he said that you're to bind these as a sign on your head, was that our actions should be shaped on your hand, our actions should be shaped by scripture. 00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:46.480 What we do with this body should be shaped by scripture. 00:36:46.639 --> 00:36:50.880 How we live that out, how we serve has to be shaped by scripture. 00:36:51.119 --> 00:36:55.039 More things are caught than they are taught in the home. 00:36:55.360 --> 00:36:58.320 We observe our parents, our grandparents. 00:36:59.840 --> 00:37:03.039 He says they shall be frontals between your eyes. 00:37:03.360 --> 00:37:09.119 Oftentimes these Jews would, if you go to Israel today, you'll see them wearing these on their foreheads. 00:37:09.199 --> 00:37:16.320 And oftentimes it was a scroll of Deuteronomy chapter 6 that they would put in a little thing between their forehead. 00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:18.559 And what did that distinguish? 00:37:18.639 --> 00:37:20.480 Maybe you've seen pictures of it. 00:37:21.280 --> 00:37:31.360 What it has there to do is that our worldview, every way that we view the world, that we view life, that we view God, should be, has to be shaped by scripture. 00:37:32.880 --> 00:37:39.199 If we're not careful, our worldview will be more shaped by culture than it is by scripture. 00:37:39.360 --> 00:37:41.360 And there's always that contention. 00:37:41.519 --> 00:37:42.159 Amen. 00:37:42.480 --> 00:37:45.199 We live in it 724 hours. 00:37:47.760 --> 00:37:49.199 Let the word govern your home. 00:37:49.360 --> 00:37:52.400 Write them on the post of your house and on your gates. 00:37:52.800 --> 00:37:55.360 You see, the home should clearly belong to the Lord. 00:37:55.440 --> 00:38:00.559 It should be an atmosphere in our homes that it's a Christ-centered place. 00:38:01.679 --> 00:38:05.199 That there's love there, that there's genuinely a love and a desire for God. 00:38:05.280 --> 00:38:08.480 And that doesn't just mean putting pictures of scripture on the wall. 00:38:08.639 --> 00:38:14.239 We can have all the scriptures on the wall we want and live a life like hell within the home. 00:38:14.559 --> 00:38:16.079 You see, it's a heart thing. 00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:18.880 It's whether conditions should be set. 00:38:19.119 --> 00:38:29.440 But can I tell you this, parents, that that'll never happen if we're not first placing Jesus as Lord of our lives and being committed to follow him. 00:38:31.760 --> 00:38:42.000 See, to kind of conclude this message as he gives this to the nation of Israel, you might put it in this kind of secession as he goes through the chapter. 00:38:43.039 --> 00:38:57.039 That you're to know God, the true God, that we're to love God, that we're to treasure his word, we're to live by his word, and we're to teach our word, his word to that next generation. 00:38:57.280 --> 00:38:59.679 Parents, I have such a passion for this. 00:39:03.679 --> 00:39:06.719 Maybe it's because I'm getting old now, older. 00:39:07.599 --> 00:39:09.840 Just got my Medicare number. 00:39:16.800 --> 00:39:22.480 But I look at the next generation of parents, some that dedicated their children this morning. 00:39:23.599 --> 00:39:42.719 And my greatest desire for you, God's greatest, I think I have God's heart on this, that you follow him, that you walk with him, that you know him, that you grow in him, and that you pour into those kids, that next generation, a love for God as I see you demonstrate. 00:39:42.880 --> 00:39:48.719 Not a heavy-handed kind of thing, but a genuine walk with Jesus. 00:39:49.360 --> 00:39:54.079 Now, this does not guarantee that your children are going to walk with Christ. 00:39:54.719 --> 00:40:01.920 Because salvation is of the Lord, and every person has to make that commitment to trust him, to follow him. 00:40:03.199 --> 00:40:13.440 But as a parent, as a family, as a marriage, man, there's so many things that are coming against you in particular as a Christian family. 00:40:14.239 --> 00:40:26.000 That my desire is that you know him and your kids know him and your grandkids know him, and for the grandparents, invest into those grandchildren. 00:40:26.880 --> 00:40:31.519 As aunts and uncles, invest in those nieces and nephews. 00:40:32.400 --> 00:40:38.559 If we do not, we will stand before him, I think, with our heads hung in shame. 00:40:39.519 --> 00:40:45.599 That we didn't do everything we could to pour into that next generation so that they may love Jesus. 00:40:46.000 --> 00:40:52.880 Now, as a church body, sometimes that constitutes that we've changed some things and we may continue to change some things. 00:40:53.039 --> 00:40:53.599