WEBVTT 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:08.960 This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:14.000 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:19.519 Let's pray together. 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:26.640 Lord, we believe that life begins with you, and life continues with you, and life is life because of you. 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:31.920 And so we've come this morning to get a deeper, fuller understanding of what life is all about. 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:35.359 And so, Lord, uh, it's for freedom the Bible says that we've been set free. 00:00:35.520 --> 00:00:43.039 So increase our understanding of and our experience of freedom as a result of having been in this room together with you and each other this morning. 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:47.759 We ask for this in Jesus' name, and we ask it as for it as your sons and daughters. 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:50.799 And so we pray as we've been taught to pray in Jesus' name. 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:52.479 And everyone said, Amen. 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:53.200 You can have a seat. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:00:56.640 If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it, open up to Deuteronomy chapter 6. 00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:01.759 Deuteronomy, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, like the fifth book of the new in the Old Testament. 00:01:02.640 --> 00:01:05.519 And if you're our guest today, we're in a series called Better. 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:06.000 Better. 00:01:06.079 --> 00:01:08.000 And we're just looking at different things we want to get better at. 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:11.280 And today I want to talk to you about getting better at parenting. 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:13.040 Getting better at parenting. 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:16.159 And let me say this while you're finding Deuteronomy chapter 6. 00:01:17.120 --> 00:01:20.400 Parenting is one of those things that you're going to do the rest of your life if you have children. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:25.040 And so you don't just parent while they're in your home and they go off to college and you kind of still parent. 00:01:25.439 --> 00:01:27.519 Oh, they get a job in a career. 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:32.719 You still parent, they get married, you still parent, they have kids, you really parent a lot. 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:34.879 You've never done parenting, okay? 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:42.239 And so it's necessary that we kind of have this biblically informed understanding of what it what parenting involves. 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:45.200 And so here's two things I want to give you to think about. 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:51.120 As long as you have the platform and the perspective in your kids' life, you should be parenting. 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:57.439 Now, kids or students, for some of you, I say kids are your eight years old, students, you're like in high school, whatever, in college. 00:01:58.159 --> 00:02:02.159 People, if you're in your 40s and 50s, your parents are still alive, look at me. 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:07.200 One of the best things you could do is remind your mom and dad, hey, you still have a platform in my life. 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:10.879 I still want you to speak into my life because they have a perspective. 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:13.439 I saw this with my own eyes years ago. 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:22.879 I was at a dinner, and a friend of mine had closed a big deal, and they were celebrating, he's buying dinner for all these people, and we're all sitting around the table, and it was great, and he was telling about the details of the deal, and it was great. 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:27.199 And I glanced over and his dad's 83, and his dad's getting tears in his eyes. 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:31.199 And I was kind of like, uh, okay, I guess he's just proud of his son. 00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:36.560 Uh until afterwards, we're all out in the parking lot and we're getting in our trucks, and somebody's like, Hey, can you get my dad a ride home? 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:37.280 And blah, blah, blah. 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:41.520 And his dad's 83, and he moves kind of slow, and his son was standing there, and he turned to walk away. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:50.000 And the dad reached out and grabbed his arm and he said, Hey son, when you were talking in there over dinner, you talked a lot about yourself and what you did to put this deal together. 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:53.439 And I'm not sure if you got the glory or if God got the glory. 00:02:55.199 --> 00:02:58.800 Yeah, I was like, Should I be hearing this? 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:02.960 Uh uh, and he just squeezed it, he just held on, and the son wasn't pulling away. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:06.000 He's like, Oh, Daddy, he goes, Just son, be careful. 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:08.639 And then he just hugged him and said, I love you. 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:12.240 And I was just like, Yeah. 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:13.520 Yeah. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:18.400 My prayer that night was, God, I want to be like this 83-year-old man who's still parenting his son. 00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:22.800 His son's wildly successful beyond what anything his dad could ever be. 00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:27.360 And his dad's not intimidated by that, not jealous of that, but he's still his dad. 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:35.840 Ask yourself, hey, what does it look like for me to just to remind my mom and hey, I want you to have a platform and a perspective into my life. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:36.879 Let's read the Bible. 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:38.000 Here's what I want to do. 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:43.439 I'm gonna read the whole chapter of Deuteronomy 6, because I think it's the best teaching on parenting anywhere. 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:48.000 And then I'm gonna give you 10 things that, 10 takeaways from the text, and we'll put them up on the screen. 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:49.199 Now you don't have to write them all down. 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:51.759 You can just pull out your phone, take a picture of them, and they all get up there. 00:03:51.840 --> 00:03:56.719 And then I want to give you three questions that parenting, that good gospel parenting has to answer. 00:03:56.800 --> 00:03:57.840 And then we'll be done. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:01.039 You can go home, put on your sweatpants, and fire up the case go. 00:04:01.280 --> 00:04:01.840 Amen. 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:04.879 And watch the Atlanta Falcons win the Super Bowl. 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:05.599 Amen? 00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:09.520 The rest of you are on the bandwagon. 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:10.319 Be quiet. 00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:12.080 Uh let's read the Bible. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:14.000 Uh, Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 1. 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:14.879 This is what he says. 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:33.199 He says, now this is the commandment, the statues and the rules that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land in which you are going over to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God and your son and your son's son, by keeping all of his statutes and his commandments, which I command you all the days of your life, and that your days may be long may be long. 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:43.120 Hear, therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord the God of your fathers has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:46.639 Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:50.399 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might. 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:53.360 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:05:09.439 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, 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, and you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:30.560 And when the Lord our God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:35.040 It is the Lord your God you shall fear, him you shall serve, and by his name you shall swear. 00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:39.040 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples uh who are around you. 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:41.680 For the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God. 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:47.600 Lest the anger of the Lord uh your your your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you off the face of the earth. 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:52.319 You shall not put the Lord to the test as you did at as you tested him at Massah. 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:58.160 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:02.800 You shall not you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you. 00:06:02.959 --> 00:06:11.759 And you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers by thrusting out all of your enemies before you, as the Lord has promised. 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:19.279 When your sons ask you in time to come, what is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you? 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:32.240 Then you shall say to your son, We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and he and the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household before our eyes. 00:06:32.399 --> 00:06:37.360 And he brought us out from there that he might bring us in and give us a land that he swore to give to our fathers. 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:52.560 And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive as we are this day, and it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God as he has commanded us. 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:55.839 Now, I want to just begin with a question, Mom and Dad, for you to think about. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:06:59.600 In verse 25, he says, And it will be righteousness for us. 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:02.319 And it will be righteousness for us. 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:16.720 What does righteousness for you, if you were to do what God says in Deuteronomy 6, because this is kind of a summary, hey, by way of reminder, it will be righteousness for us if we do the things that were just written about, that we just heard about. 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:22.959 What would righteousness for you look like in your marriage and in your parenting relationship with your kids? 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:24.319 Just a question of takeaway. 00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:25.680 You can talk about it later tonight. 00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:26.879 No, you won't talk about it later tonight. 00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:31.040 You're gonna watch Super Bowl and then 24 Legacy, and then you'll be passed out of sleep. 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:32.000 Maybe tomorrow. 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:33.519 You can just have the conversation. 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:36.639 Hey, what would it be like if we actually did what the Bible talked about? 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:42.399 Now, when I say takeaways, uh, what I mean is when I read this, I just when I read things in the Bible, I have a legal pattern. 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:44.319 I just jot down things that stand out to me. 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:47.279 Things that I'm like, hey, yeah, I want to understand that more. 00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:51.120 So there's 10 of them from this chapter that I wrote down, and I'll just list them off briefly. 00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:53.439 The first one is this learning is for living. 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:54.720 Learning is for living. 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:55.439 Verse 1. 00:07:55.680 --> 00:08:02.240 He tells them this commandment, and these are the commandments, statues, and rules that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you that you may do them. 00:08:02.399 --> 00:08:03.360 That you may do them. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:11.600 In other words, this is not just what we do to occupy our time while our kids are little until they get a car and can drive themselves to different things they'd rather do besides come to church. 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:12.399 No, no, no. 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:16.240 This, we learn these things so that we can actually do these things. 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:18.639 Uh now, here's a little sidebar. 00:08:19.040 --> 00:08:28.079 Much of your parenting, whether you realize it or not, is influenced and affected and guided by your understanding of the doctrine of salvation or what's called soteriology. 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:34.799 Basically, it's when I say doctrine of salvation, how do you understand people come into a personal relationship with God? 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:38.480 Uh and the way you understand that influences the way you parent. 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:40.320 You say, I don't get the connection. 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:44.879 Uh, just give me a couple minutes and let me build a case for this from the Bible. 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:46.240 You say, What do you mean? 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:48.639 If you're not careful, the learning is for the living. 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:54.879 Uh what happens, you should, as a mom and dad, you should expect to see the gospel manifesting itself in your kids' life. 00:08:55.120 --> 00:09:01.679 Matter of fact, you should say to your kids consistently around the dinner table or when you're hanging out in their room, because they love for you to come in their room and hang out. 00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:02.639 Have you noticed that? 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:05.519 You walk in, they're like, What are you doing here? 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:08.480 Well, this is my room. 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:10.559 I pay for this room. 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:13.519 You're like a freeloading hobo in my room. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:16.320 So pick my room up before I take it back. 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:19.200 Uh but just hanging out talking to your kids, just ask. 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:24.799 Not as a pop quiz, okay, but just hey, how's the gospel kind of manifesting itself in your life these days? 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:30.960 Because it teaches your kids to flesh out what the Bible is all about, what the Bible teaches and talks about. 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:32.879 Because learning is for the living. 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:34.159 You say, why is that? 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:38.080 Because if you're not careful, our kids will live with disconnect. 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:41.039 I believe this, I heard all this, I understand this. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:44.399 But this, yes, sister, but this is what I experience. 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:47.679 And there doesn't need to be a big gap in those things. 00:09:47.919 --> 00:09:51.600 You say, well, why what has it got to do with the doctrine of salvation? 00:09:51.759 --> 00:10:00.000 Uh because we've got to be careful, because we've kind of accepted as the norm in America, this, I believe this, but I live this. 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:06.399 And Jesus comes along in Luke's gospel in chapter six and he says, Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I say? 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:12.720 Translation, why do you, how can you believe all this right and good stuff and yet you live this? 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:22.159 And here's the reality that many of us will be faced with in this lifetime is we will have to come to, we will have to ask ourselves, does my kid really have a relationship with God? 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:29.440 Or they just learned all and heard all the Bible stories, and they can they they can recite information, but they don't walk in intimacy. 00:10:29.840 --> 00:10:34.799 And you gotta be careful because what happens is that it's necessary. 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:40.159 The best thing and the most essential thing we do as parents is teach our kids a right view of God. 00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:46.240 A lot of kids grow up and they've been taught a flawed view of God, and many of them go to a church that teaches them a flawed view of God. 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:57.200 Here's how it happens: they take verses out of context, and they teach our kids that God kind of stands at the door and he knocks of your heart and he knocks to waiting to get in, and he can't get in unless you get up and open the door and let him in. 00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:10.000 And so, without even intending it, this flawed unbiblical theology teaches your kid that, hey, God wants into your life, but you're in control, and whenever you get ready, you can get up and open the door and let him in. 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:14.480 And so, what happens in your kids' mind is they go, okay, I get to control God. 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:23.519 Well, if I get to determine when when and how God has access to my life, then I, by extension, I get to define what it looks like for me to be a Christian. 00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:32.879 And so what happens is you you have kids that grow up and they apply the gospel to their lesser appetites, but not to their bigger appetites, like their morality. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:35.600 That's off limits. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:45.919 And so we have, if you're not careful, you can have a gym, you can have a 22-year-old that lives very immorally and yet professes to be a very passionate Christian. 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:51.600 Will go to worship conferences and sing their hearts out and go home to their boyfriend that they live with. 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:55.120 And it's like one of these things is not like the other. 00:11:55.440 --> 00:12:11.200 And here's what happened: because you you gotta have a biblical understanding of how people come to know God and experience God and who God is, because if we let our kids decide that and determine that, then they get to define what it looks like for them to relate to this God. 00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:19.600 And if you spool that out all the way to the end, what you end up with is a God that's not worth worship, fear, or sacrifice, and a life that's not worth living. 00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:26.480 So we've allowed them to create for themselves a version of Christianity that's not Christianity and it's not interesting. 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:30.720 And it's like, hey, well, you, when you say, hey, are you going to church anywhere? 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:31.840 They're like, no. 00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:39.840 Because that doesn't, that God that they've been allowed to live under this illusion that this is what God's like, He doesn't interest them. 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:44.480 And so when I say the learning is for living, there's a whole lot in that statement. 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:48.559 Second takeaway from the text is simply this that parenting is consequential. 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:52.399 Verse 2, he says, this is for you, your sons, and your son's sons. 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:56.879 There's three generations that are being affected by the way you parent your kids right now. 00:12:57.279 --> 00:13:02.559 So it it's it's vitally important that as a parent and a grandparent, you kind of speak up. 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:03.200 I love this. 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:05.759 I saw this not long ago in a restaurant here in our city. 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:15.919 Uh, these grandparents had their three grandkids out, and the three grandkids were like seven, five, and like four, and it was getting pretty unruly there. 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:24.399 And finally, grandpa stood up and said, I don't know if your mommy and daddy let you get away with this, but your grandpa's gonna wear you out if you do that again. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:32.399 And I turned around and was like, Yeah, and the kids were all big eyed, like, haw. 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:35.200 He said, Now, grandpa isn't mad at you, sweetie, okay? 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:38.879 You ain't gotta be afraid of me, but you're not gonna act that way with me. 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:44.799 And it was funny because I was kind of like, You go, your bad self, grandpa. 00:13:45.120 --> 00:14:00.720 These other people are sitting around, kind of like, how dare he! Parenting is the most consequential thing you will do in this lifetime because it affects three generations you, your sons, and your sons' sons, you, your daughters, and your daughters' daughters. 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:04.639 So when you the hardest thing, by the way, to endure as parents is your kids' wrath. 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:15.759 And sometimes what allows you to endure their wrath is to realize I'm not just parenting her, I'm parenting my grandchildren that are gonna come out of her if I don't kill her. 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:18.159 That's the way you gotta think about it. 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:19.759 It's radically consequential. 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.799 Third takeaway is that you have to you are to be monotheistic in a polytheistic culture. 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:26.320 You are to be monotheistic. 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:27.519 It's Deuteronomy 6.4. 00:14:27.679 --> 00:14:28.399 It's called the Shema. 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:31.519 Hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:33.679 The Lord our God is one. 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:37.039 Now you you say, now, let me let me admit this. 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:41.840 Sometimes as your pastor, I say things and y'all are like, I'm not writing that down. 00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:43.440 That's got nothing to do with me. 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:46.480 Let me tell you what this has got to do with you just from the news this past week. 00:14:46.559 --> 00:14:49.759 You're to be monotheistic, mono one, theistic God. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:52.240 You're to be, you're to think about God as one. 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:54.559 But we live in a culture that's polytheistic. 00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:55.679 They got a bunch of different gods. 00:14:55.759 --> 00:14:57.919 Like Oprah says, all roads lead to God. 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:00.080 Find one that fits you and get on that. 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:01.519 And so she does. 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:02.799 That's what people do. 00:15:02.960 --> 00:15:08.720 Uh look around, even in Deuteronomy, he says, hey, do not worship the gods of the people around you. 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:13.360 This past week, like one of the gods we worship in America is tolerance. 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:16.480 It is just a God we bow down to in our culture. 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:21.519 Here's how hypocritical the God of American tolerance is. 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:27.120 This past week at UC Berkeley, the birthplace of freedom of speech. 00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:32.159 Let me let me get that, lay that foundation for you so you don't think I'm just hating on college kids. 00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:33.279 I love college kids. 00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:34.559 I got a college kid. 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:36.399 I'm all for the next generation. 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:46.559 But here's the deal uh activism is a really tangible quest for forgiveness because we think we're doing virtuous things, but that's another sermon. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:56.879 Uh at the birthplace of the freedom of speech movement was UC Berkeley, people torched and rioted the campus because they didn't like a speaker that was speaking there. 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:01.840 Does that not concern anybody? 00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:16.799 Again, at the birthplace, because here's the deal: if you don't bow down to the God of tolerance, if you don't feel the way I feel about things, if you don't, it's kind of like, and by the way, some of the most tolerant people in America are the most intolerant people you'll ever meet. 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:22.240 And they glam on with all their signs, with every cause from Donald Trump to this, that, and the other. 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:25.679 And I'm just, I mean, gay rights and immigration and blah, blah. 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:32.240 It's just this plethora of confused, we don't know what we're for, but we're against anything that's not in favor of the. 00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:33.679 Okay. 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:35.840 But what about free speech? 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:43.759 Because, see, one of the gods that we worship, and for you to be monotheistic against that backdrop is just to say, hey, not only do I not agree with you, but I think you're wrong. 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:45.200 I think you're hypocritical. 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:50.879 Well, that's just, I mean, people will get exasperated, won't be able to talk over that. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:54.240 I mean, I just say, I'm just being monotheistic. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:54.799 What does that mean? 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:56.559 I'm just worshiping the one God. 00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:58.960 There's one God, and there's one way to heaven. 00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:02.399 And it's the only way you can get there is through a relationship with the Son Jesus Christ. 00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:05.680 Because he and he alone died on the cross as payment for your sins. 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:08.960 And all these other ways, Jesus talked about in John's gospel. 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:13.759 He said the people don't come through the door, they try to climb over the wall, they're just a thief. 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:14.880 They're trying to break in. 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:17.759 You do not break in to get to a relationship with God. 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:18.799 You come one way. 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:19.440 Why? 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:23.759 Because you've got to be monotheistic and a polytheistic culture. 00:17:24.079 --> 00:17:26.160 Fourth thing is you parent from the heart. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:27.519 Look at verse 6. 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:28.480 He says this. 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:31.279 He says, and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:34.799 Whether you realize it or not, you parent from what's heaviest on your heart. 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:38.400 If you're frustrated with your kids, you will parent out of frustration. 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:40.640 That's why it's okay. 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:50.000 It's even necessary once in a while, mom, dad, for you to look at your kids and say, I don't need to talk to you right now because I'm frustrated and I don't want to hurt your feelings with what I want to say. 00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:56.960 Your kids should come out and warn the other ones, save yourselves. 00:17:57.119 --> 00:17:58.480 Mom's frustrated. 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:01.440 Back up, it's gonna blow. 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:02.640 No. 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:04.799 Yeah, because you parent. 00:18:05.119 --> 00:18:09.440 So because we parent, he says, hey, these words today, it's right there in the Bible. 00:18:09.599 --> 00:18:11.920 These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:14.160 You should teach them diligently to your children. 00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:18.799 See, we parent from the from what's heaviest and deepest on our heart. 00:18:19.680 --> 00:18:24.400 Fifth thing is God intends that parents be the most spiritually formative people in your child's life. 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:28.720 God intends that parents be the most spiritually formative people in your child's life. 00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:29.599 Where do you get that? 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:30.720 Look at verse 7. 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:32.079 You shall teach them. 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:33.599 Circle that word you. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:41.039 Not Jeff Witten, not Jana, McKee, not Samantha Levine, not even me. 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:47.519 We all can partner with you and equipping you to parent your kids with a gospel worldview. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:49.039 But look what the Bible says. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:56.480 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:59.039 It's it's just let me give you three words. 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:01.119 Teach, talk, and walk. 00:19:01.519 --> 00:19:04.000 You shall teach them diligently to your children. 00:19:05.279 --> 00:19:09.279 Talk about these when you sit down and when you walk along the way. 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:12.000 It's teach, talk about it. 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:16.079 How often do you have naturally occurring spiritual conversations in your home? 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:19.440 How often around the dinner table do you say, hey, what do you sense? 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:22.240 What do you sense and what do you see God doing these days? 00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:25.119 You're like, well, my kids ate, I promise you. 00:19:25.519 --> 00:19:26.240 They see. 00:19:26.559 --> 00:19:27.759 They sense things. 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:30.400 What questions do you have about God these days? 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:34.079 How's the gospel manifesting itself in your life these days? 00:19:34.400 --> 00:19:38.160 And they're not always going to be like, oh, waiting for you to ask that. 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:43.039 Sometimes they'll just roll their eyes and go, oh, another moral lesson, huh, Dad? 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:46.000 That's what it sounds like in my house sometimes. 00:19:46.240 --> 00:19:49.519 And I'm kind of like, yeah, call it what you want. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:54.240 I I don't want you to get out of my house and think wrongly about all this. 00:19:54.960 --> 00:20:02.960 So when I say that God intends parents to be the most spiritually formative people in a child's life, it's teach, talk, and walk. 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:11.119 He says, as you walk along the way, that means that the older your kids get, don't hide in your bedroom and let them just be out there on their own. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:13.359 You gotta keep walking with them. 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:19.599 Because what happens is that we stop parenting, and the bigger, the loudest voice in their life becomes their peer group. 00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:22.240 And your kids need more guidance than that. 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:27.119 Next takeaway from the text is number six is prioritize God's word. 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:28.640 Prioritize God's word. 00:20:29.119 --> 00:20:29.759 That's verse eight. 00:20:29.839 --> 00:20:33.599 He said, You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, they should be as frontlets between your eyes. 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:36.400 You should write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:40.960 And when he says prioritize the word of God, not his rules, but his honey. 00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:43.119 Not his rules, but his honey. 00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:47.839 I remember when I was nine, I was playing uh football at David Hawkins' house, and his dad had beehives. 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:48.960 I didn't know what that was. 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:51.759 But but I realized that one day we were playing football, and Mr. 00:20:51.839 --> 00:21:00.640 Hawkins came up with a white porcelain metal bowl looking thing, and it had a red rim around it, and he set it down on the front porch, and it was full of honeycomb. 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:03.039 He just pulled out and cut it up into bite-sized pieces. 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:04.799 And he says, You boys want some honeycomb? 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:06.559 And I was like, What's honeycomb? 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:07.920 I mean, we got honey at the store. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:09.519 I mean, Sue B makes honey. 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:12.400 And David, his son, looked at me and just kind of like, You never had this. 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:13.279 And I was like, What? 00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:14.720 And he went, This is honeycomb. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:17.440 This is wax that the bees have filled with honey. 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:20.160 And you chew it, and the honey just explodes in your mouth. 00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:25.519 And then you chew on this waxy, sweet, honey-tasting wax like bubblegum for an hour. 00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:27.920 And I was like, I want to do that. 00:21:28.880 --> 00:21:36.799 I stood there for 20 minutes and I ate honeycomb right out, just just right, just gorged on it until I almost got sick and threw up. 00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:41.519 So when the Bible says, when I say, hey, prioritize the word of God, not his rules. 00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:44.880 I'm not saying put the Ten Commandments on your kid's bedroom wall. 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:47.519 Hey, sinner, did you look at number four? 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:50.240 That's got your name on it. 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:51.599 No. 00:21:53.200 --> 00:21:56.640 Number seven, remember that fullness leads to forgetfulness. 00:21:57.039 --> 00:21:58.960 Remember that fullness leads to forgetfulness. 00:21:59.200 --> 00:21:59.759 Look at the latter. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.359 Part of verse 11. 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:08.400 He says there's like a dash, and he says, and when you eat and are full, verse 12, then take care lest you forget the Lord. 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:10.160 Mark that in your Bibles, beloved. 00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:10.960 Look at me. 00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:15.279 When you eat and are full, take care lest you forget the Lord. 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:15.839 Why? 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:18.559 Because when it's hard, we need Jesus. 00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:22.640 When it gets easy, when we're full, it's easy to forget. 00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:24.960 I remember talking to a kid at a youth camp. 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:29.440 He was just, he was just rebellious, whatever word you want to use for it. 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:30.480 They're getting ready to send him home. 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:31.519 They said, Well, would you talk to him? 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:33.279 You're the camp pastor, you're the speaker guy. 00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:33.599 Sure. 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:34.480 Sit down and talk to him. 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:36.880 I said, Hey, what's what's really formed the way you think about all this? 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:38.079 He said, What do you mean? 00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:41.119 What's formed the way you think about God, Jesus, church, everything? 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:56.720 He said, I don't know, but I mean, we used to go to church a lot, my parents, and because my parents started a business, they quit their job and they pulled some money, and my grandparents gave us some money, they bought a dry cleaner, and that went really well, and then they got another one, and now we have like seven dry cleaners, and my parents don't need God anymore. 00:22:57.599 --> 00:23:00.880 And I was like, Oh, I understand why this kid's this way. 00:23:01.039 --> 00:23:03.039 He didn't, he didn't not care about God. 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:08.400 He was saddened by the fact that he watched his parents get full and forget. 00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:11.119 And it happens quickly. 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:15.519 I have a friend that's a ministry, great guy, consistent for years. 00:23:15.759 --> 00:23:18.640 His mom died, left him over$700,000. 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:23.440 Within four years, he was out of ministry, committed affairs, disqualified himself. 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:24.640 It's horrible. 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:26.480 He's a totally different person. 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:28.880 He's just indifferent to the things of God. 00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:31.279 All our mutual friends were like, What happened? 00:23:31.359 --> 00:23:32.000 What happened? 00:23:32.240 --> 00:23:33.440 He got full. 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:35.359 He saw the finish line. 00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:36.799 He said, I can retire. 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:38.480 What can the church do to me now? 00:23:38.640 --> 00:23:39.359 I'm golden. 00:23:39.440 --> 00:23:40.880 I got enough money to make it. 00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:42.720 Is that what this is all about? 00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:52.160 Now, unless I sound all high and mighty, I cried last night in my office at our house because I was reading over this passage and I was taken back to where Marcy and I first got married. 00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:57.680 We lived in seminary housing, like 700 and I think it's 620 square feet. 00:23:58.240 --> 00:23:59.039 Yes, sir. 00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:00.160 Envision that. 00:24:00.559 --> 00:24:03.279 It was so small, the stove had two burners. 00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:07.119 Like, why didn't he just give you a Coleman cook stove when you when you sign up for class? 00:24:07.279 --> 00:24:13.759 We had two burners and we had a little kitchen table and a sink, and you kind of like negotiate around them to get out of the kitchen. 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:15.279 And we were happy as clams. 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:19.119 And I remember one time I went to the store to get stuff because she's going to cook supper, and we're like, oh. 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:22.160 And I got back and she said, Oh, did you get crescent rolls? 00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:25.839 And I was like, ah, and she said, I think we can afford crescent rolls. 00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:30.319 And so I went to the store and I got them and I was like, oh, these are so good. 00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:37.039 Last night, clear as a bell, the Holy Spirit said, Do you still just experience the wonder of being able to afford crescent rolls? 00:24:37.920 --> 00:24:40.400 And I cried because I mean, think about it. 00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:43.039 I love crescent rolls. 00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:45.039 Love me some crescent rolls. 00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:47.519 I may have some for lunch today. 00:24:48.319 --> 00:24:53.200 I bet I got three or four cans of them in my refrigerator right now and don't think a thing about it. 00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:54.960 And it wasn't condemnation. 00:24:55.200 --> 00:24:56.559 The voice of God's not condemnation. 00:24:56.640 --> 00:25:00.559 The voice of God was kind of like, hey, I've been really good to you. 00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:03.599 You ain't think about it, do you? 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:05.200 No, I don't. 00:25:06.319 --> 00:25:07.039 I don't. 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:08.000 Fullness. 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:08.559 Be careful. 00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:10.160 Now, by the way, look at me. 00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:12.559 Don't feel bad if you got stuff. 00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:14.640 Because here's what the Bible says right here. 00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:19.039 God says, and when, look at verse 10, and when, not if. 00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:20.160 And when? 00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:24.240 I'm so faithful, God says, you can bank on this happening. 00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:38.400 And when the Lord your God brings you into the land and He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob to give you with great and good cities that you did not build, houses full of good things that you did not fill, cisterns you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant. 00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:43.279 And when you eat and are full, hey, God doesn't mind you possessing any or all of that. 00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:46.319 There were some people in the last service that says, Oh, we love this. 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:47.039 We got to go now. 00:25:47.119 --> 00:25:48.880 We're going to the Super Bowl. 00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:51.519 Sinners. 00:25:54.400 --> 00:25:57.279 They're going to go to a suite in the Super Bowl. 00:25:58.799 --> 00:26:00.640 Probably made a deal with the devil, right? 00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:01.599 Yeah. 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:02.880 No. 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:07.039 And I just thought, yes, your cisterns are full. 00:26:08.960 --> 00:26:10.640 Now go drink them dry. 00:26:10.720 --> 00:26:12.240 And they were like, that's our plan. 00:26:12.400 --> 00:26:13.920 No, I don't mean that. 00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:17.039 No, that's what God says. 00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:23.039 So don't look at people that get to go to the Super Bowl and enjoy it and kind of go, man, I was doing something wrong. 00:26:23.200 --> 00:26:26.720 No, what if they're doing something right and God's blessing them for doing something right? 00:26:27.279 --> 00:26:31.519 What if their business is so successful that they're like, hey, you know what? 00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:36.160 We're not only going to take ourselves, we're going to take one of our clients to the Super Bowl. 00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:37.759