[0:00] Take your Bibles now and turn with me, if you would, to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 6 and verse 6. In 1973, I met and married my best friend.
[0:17] We've been married now a few years. In 1975, Chris was born, our oldest son. And I was a youth director in a church.
[0:30] And so Chris was like the baby of everybody, all the kids in the church. But anybody with any age, mine or above, always said to me, Why in the world did y'all have a baby?
[0:46] And bring it into this terrible world we live in. That was 1975. Everybody knew they was a boy if it was a boy. Nobody went around saying, I wonder if I'm a boy or a girl this week.
[1:01] And no one knew that there were like 56 shades of gender or Heinz blend somewhere. Homosexuality had been brought up a little bit.
[1:17] Not, it wasn't prominent. I remember sitting on the porch with my granddad somewhere around that time. And he's reading the newspaper.
[1:28] And he was not the most educated man. He's a country guy. People don't know anything about that. But he knew all about cows. And all about calves. And all about animals.
[1:38] And all about planting. But he didn't know a lot of stuff that went on in the big city. He's reading the newspaper. And I'm sitting on the porch with him. And they and I haven't been married long. And he leans back.
[1:49] He goes, Son, what's these here? Homosexuals this thing's talking about. I'm like, oh, brother. Here's this 20-something-year-old kid going to explain to this 70-something-year-old man what a homosexual is.
[2:02] And so I said, well, granddaddy, you remember that stuff in Romans chapter 1 where the men were? He said, oh, no. He said, that's what that is. I said, that's what that is.
[2:14] You know, raising children is different. And this is a beautiful passage of Scripture. And I want to talk to you about raising countercultural children. We don't want our kids to be like the world they live in.
[2:27] We want our kids to grow up to honor and respect women. Marry a woman. Men, our boys to marry girls. Our girls to marry boys. And to be faithful to Jesus.
[2:38] And to go to church. Have family devotions. Get saved. Train their children to get saved. If that's what you want, say amen. Now, would the Bible have anything to say about that? Would the Bible give me any indication about how I could bring up children that would honor Jesus in a world where God is hated, denied, or at least ignored almost all the time?
[3:01] So God's really not big anymore. They'd take it off the coins if they could. They'd take it out of the place. They'd take it anywhere they can. They would remove the word.
[3:11] God, how would you raise countercultural children? How would you do it? Number one. Go with me to Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 5. It will require a personal decision.
[3:24] Verse 5. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might. If we're going to raise countercultural children, we're going to have to make a personal decision to do so.
[3:42] It is going to mean that you're going to have to, on purpose, intentionally decide, I'll raise the right kind of kids. And that all starts with you being convinced of your own commitment.
[3:52] I want you to underline in verse 5, I want you to underline that, where it says, love the Lord thy God. And I'd like to ask you a question.
[4:03] I really challenge you to answer the question, honestly, do you love God? The first question would be, are you born again? Do you know for a fact that if you were to die, that you'd go to heaven?
[4:17] Do you know my sins have been forgiven? I was on my way to hell. I deserved to go to hell. I'd sinned against the holy God, but God saved me. He sent Jesus to die in my place, and I trusted him.
[4:30] And I am certain, I am convinced that I am born again. I know I am truly born again. Are you convinced of that? Are you convinced of that?
[4:41] Are you convinced that you know him? And then I'd like to add, secondly, look at me and listen to me, everybody. You know, sometimes as pastor, and this may hurt just a touch, but here it comes.
[4:52] I pray for you. If you come irregular at all, your name and picture, if I've got it, it's on my phone. I pray for you every day. And I call your name before the Lord.
[5:02] And sometimes I wonder if you love Jesus. I didn't say you weren't saved, but I wonder if you love him. Because the words that are found in the verse, if you look at it are, it said, it says, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
[5:23] Boy, I ought to be in love with Jesus. You know, you can pretty well tell when you work with young people. I work with young people all my life. I've worked with young people. You can always tell when a guy starts getting moony out over a girl.
[5:36] You know, it becomes quite evident. I mean, everybody in the room, I'll just be sitting in the classroom, and I'll turn to someone, and I'll say, is something going on over there? And they'll say, yeah. I say, well, I thought so.
[5:47] It's pretty obvious. You know what I mean? Can I get an amen? Is it obvious you love Jesus? Is it obvious you love the Bible? Do people look at you and go, is something going on over there?
[5:58] Is the guy really in love with Jesus? Are you convinced of your own commitment? And then number two, I would ask you, when I ask you if you love God, I would ask you, are you committed to his commandments?
[6:09] Look, if you would, in Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 5, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, with all thy might. I'm to love him with everything in me.
[6:21] I'm to love him with my mind. I'm to love him with my heart. I'm to love him with my will. I'm to love him with my emotions. I am to be committed to him. And when you're committed to him, you're committed to what he says.
[6:34] You see, you can't love God, hang on, apart from the Bible. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Do you hear what I just said? Everybody loves God.
[6:46] You know, you're God. You're a higher power. No, no, no, no, no. There's only one God. There's only one higher power. And you can't know him. You can't love him without his commandments.
[6:58] I'm not talking about the Ten Commandments. I'm talking about a book you hold in your hands right now. You're to love him. Our children must know we're committed to and accepting the word of God.
[7:10] We're not trying to reinterpret it. We're not trying to make it mean what we want it to mean. Go with me to Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 1. You got your Bible open. Please stay with me. And now these are the commandments, the statutes and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you that you might do them.
[7:30] This becomes our lifestyle. We learn what he says and we practice what he says. We are taught and we do. We teach and they do.
[7:40] It is being committed to him. You must have confidence in the covenant, confidence in the word of God. There must be a deep respect and reverence for God that our children see and feel in our lives.
[7:57] Just this one will tell you, your kids turn out pretty much like you. So my kids don't seem to want to go to church.
[8:09] I'm not saying sometimes that our children don't go astray, but we even got tons of sayings, don't we? He's a chip off the old block.
[8:21] That acre don't fall too far from that tree. You become, our kids need to see it. You need to have a fervent, open love for God and his word.
[8:38] Their kids ought to walk in the room every now and then and just see you with an open Bible. The kids ought to walk in the room every now and then and just realize dad's praying. You don't have to put up a sign.
[8:50] You don't have to make an advertisement, but it ought to be pretty fervent. They got a good idea which ball team you like. They got a good idea what hobby you like.
[9:01] They ought to know that about what God you love. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 3. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do that it may be well with thee and that you may increase mightily as the Lord God of thy fathers has promised thee.
[9:19] I want you to, in your Bible, I want you to circle the word here. So I want to listen to what the word of God says. Now we're talking about what Austin ought to do personally. I should hear what the word of God says.
[9:32] But you see, it's never about hearing. It's never about listening to it. It's about observing to do. Underline that in the verse. I hear what God says, but I make a decision to practice what God says.
[9:47] I'm going to put into practice what the word of God says. And that comes with great promise. It says that it'll be well with me. It says that I will increase in knowing God.
[10:00] So here's the first thing I'd like you just to kind of, it's a personal decision. Have I trusted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior? Do I honestly know that?
[10:12] When it comes time to die, am I confident my sins have been forgiven and I'm on my way to heaven? And then I would just say to you, not only do I know that my sins are forgiven, because when you live in the southeast of the United States of America, everybody been saved.
[10:31] I asked a guy the other day who's living in sin, admitted it, told me right up front he was living in sin. And then I said, well, did you ever trust Christ? Oh, yeah, yeah, I did all that when I was 12.
[10:45] He's raising a kid now. That kid knows they never go to church. That kids know that they're living in sin. The people that are his parents are living in sin.
[10:58] It's a personal decision. That personal decision will require parental diligence. Look, if you would, at Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 7. Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 7.
[11:10] And thou shalt teach them diligently. Teach them diligently. Would you underline in your Bible, teach them diligently. Know what God says. And teach them diligently to your children.
[11:24] You're to talk about them when they sit down. You're to talk about them when you're walking by the way. You're to talk about them when they're laying down. You're to talk about them when they get up. And so I would just like to say to all of you, I ask you for some parental diligence.
[11:38] So here's a couple of ideas that we talk about on a regular basis. But how about family devotions? How about just having a time when the pastor of the home opens the Bible?
[11:54] And the TV gets turned off. And the iPad gets put down. And the iPhone gets put down. And things are laid aside. And for a few very brief moments, the Bible is held and read.
[12:06] Bible verses are discussed and memorized. And we keep it brief. But we put family devotions out there. You have to be legalistic about it.
[12:18] But can I just remind you, we want to raise countercultural children. Everybody in this room, I know you agree with me. I'm not. I'm preaching to the choir here. Every one of us do not want our children to turn out like what you watch on the news.
[12:32] You don't want them to turn out like what you hear about from the colleges. You don't want them to turn out like that. You want them to live for Jesus in a world that doesn't believe in him. And I really believe that family devotions may have a big part of that.
[12:46] The second thing is there ought to be some fateful discussions. There ought to be some fateful discussions. Look at the verse with me and underline it where it says, talk of them.
[12:58] Talk of them. Our children are talking to somebody. I want them to be talking to you. I would rather them talk to their parents, their mother, their dad.
[13:11] They're going to school to find out what's going on with homosexuality. They're going to school to find out about whether or not it's okay to be a lesbian or whether or not it's okay to be a homosexual, which we know the Bible is explained very explicitly.
[13:29] That's a perversion. They're going to school to find out about when you ought to have your first kiss or when you ought to have intimate relations. They're going to school to discuss when they're going to have drugs or when they're going to do this or do that.
[13:42] And here's what God said. I know Moses wrote this. And I know it was written all the way. Good night. This is 4,000 years old. But Moses said, God, the Holy Spirit of God said, you tell them to say this.
[13:55] When they walk down the road, I want them talking about Jesus. I just want mom and daddy talking about Jesus. I want to spend time talking with their children about the things of God.
[14:06] Answer questions with Bible truth. Listen to me. Don't give any vain imaginations. Don't say to them, well, scientists now say this.
[14:18] No, you got this. And by the way, when scientists were bleeding people to death with leeches, God said the life of the flesh was in the blood.
[14:28] So the Bible was right all along. And by the way, by the way, when they thought the world was flat, the Bible said it wasn't flat. And by the way, when they couldn't figure out the path and the waters, God already wrote about it.
[14:40] And when they couldn't figure out why the river, the ocean didn't get full, God said, oh, I know why it doesn't get full. God said this to people that were so ignorant compared to scientists. He said it'll rain on the clouds.
[14:51] It'll bring the water and drop it on the mountains. The mountains will fill up, fill it down into creeks. Creeks fill into the rivers and rivers will flow out into the ocean. And the clouds will pick it up and bring it back. God's up there going, oh, I got that all figured out.
[15:03] I don't need a scientist to tell me about it. Say amen. That's a pretty good God you serve. Talk about it with them. Let's talk about Jesus. Let's talk about what's going on.
[15:14] Another word. Let's give them firm discipleship. Diligence to give firm discipleship. I say that to say it this way.
[15:28] Now, I'm going to read you a Bible verse, but you can't be flipping about that. You are not flipping about school.
[15:38] I mean, if your kid says, I just don't think I want to go this week. Most parents don't get up and say, oh, so you don't feel like going to school?
[15:48] Oh, no problem. You think you might want to go next week? Nah, thinking about just quitting. I know I'm eight, but I think about it. And parents go, I hate to be a little firm on that, but you're going to school.
[16:02] Of course, if you live in this generation and your kid looks at you at eight and says, I think I'm a boy, but I think I'm a girl, the parents go, wow, we should call a doctor. Doctor, my son thinks he's a girl.
[16:14] Could we get a surgery? Only a moron does that. I know you can get mad at me. I'm old enough to retire. It's still the truth, though. It's still the truth.
[16:26] It's still the truth. So we need to be firm. Let me say firm, 6-8. Do the army, 6-8. Jewish people.
[16:46] They have taken that to mean external stuff. And so in a Jewish home, you'll see a little fake Bible word on the wall.
[16:58] It was never about that. It was about don't do with your hands what's not in the book. And let your house be dedicated to God. And it's like wherever you walk, wherever you talk, whatever you do, it ought to be between your eyes wherever you look.
[17:15] It ought to be everywhere. The word of God needs to occupy a prominent place in their hearts. I don't want to be ugly.
[17:25] I'm really not trying to be ugly. I'm trying to be very positive. This is Mother's Day. But can I just say this to you? Your ball team takes a more prominent place than the word of God does.
[17:40] Braves. Falcons. What's the name of that hockey? Not hockey. Soccer team. Whatever. You got their jerseys.
[17:52] Come on. Just tell the truth a second. And your kids, everybody in your house knows. No, no, no. Daddy likes that. But God's not. We need to be firm in showing them that the word of God is important.
[18:10] And it affects every activity. Don't tell your kids we don't do that. Show your kids what the word of God says about doing that. We ought to look at it by what the word of God has to say.
[18:20] Third thing I wish you'd write down somewhere. We're going to raise countercultural children. We must prevent danger. However, I want you to go with me to Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 12.
[18:33] Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 12. What I'm about to read to you is one of the scariest verses you could possibly read with me today.
[18:45] Beware lest thou you forget the Lord. Which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage.
[19:04] My daddy, and he never forgot by the way. My daddy had been a, his own words, a falling down drunk.
[19:15] Who had done everything illicit you could possibly do. At the time. He got saved. In 1954.
[19:27] Right about the time of my birth. Right after my mother knew she was pregnant with me. He got saved. And he never forgot. I grew up with a hatred for alcohol like you would never believe.
[19:41] I didn't even really understand why I hated it. I got off the bus one day. Took an hour to get home from a little country school. And I got off the bus and I saw a beer can sitting there.
[19:52] And I just reached down and grabbed it. I was going to throw it off the road and throw it into the ditch. And a bunch of liquid came out of that thing and got all over me. I don't know whether it was beer or urine.
[20:04] I'm not sure what it was. But I was terrified. I walked in that house and I said, I didn't drink anything. I didn't do it. I was just, because I was afraid my dad was going to smell that whiskey or that beer and just whoop me right then and there.
[20:21] You know, the whole deal is I knew, he knew where God brought him from. And what he's telling these Jewish people is, y'all are going to forget that you were slaves in Egypt and your children were being killed and you were treated like slaves.
[20:36] You were slaves and they were working you to death and even took away the straw from you. But I went in there and I worked great miracles and I destroyed all of Egypt and I brought you out of that and I brought you across the Red Sea and I brought you across it.
[20:51] I did all this great stuff. Don't y'all forget me. In 1954, God reached out and saved my daddy. I never heard him say a cuss word.
[21:03] Can't even say that about me. Never heard him say a cuss word. Never saw him strike my mother. Never saw him use alcohol or cigarettes. Never saw it. God changed him.
[21:14] But somewhere along the way, you begin to think, I pull myself up by my own bootstraps. I used to be an alcoholic. I used to be defined by my addictions.
[21:26] But I fixed me. And you forget who saved you. And then your children grow up thinking, my dad's always been successful. And boy, daddy's smart.
[21:41] And daddy built a business and daddy pays the bills and daddy bought the cars and daddy raised a good family and daddy and mama sure are something. The kids ought to be here and you go, oh no son, let me tell you who I was when he found me.
[21:58] Let me tell you where I was when he changed me. I don't ever want to forget the God who saved me. You can prevent it by constant reminders. Express your thanksgiving and let your children hear it.
[22:12] Model gratefulness. Look for teachable moments with your children to remind them that it's God. We worship God. I am standing in a room full of really good people.
[22:25] I know I am. Man, you got good marriages and you got good children. You live in nice homes, you drive nice vehicles, you wear nice clothes, but I'd like to remind you that he did it.
[22:37] Amen. Where would I be? Where would I be if I didn't know Jesus?
[22:49] Where would I be if God hadn't have made a difference? You can prevent the danger of forgetting God with consistent reverence. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 13.
[23:02] Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him and swear by his name. Now somebody listening to me preach the other day said to me, what do you mean by fear?
[23:12] So I think I might ought to clarify that. You know, we don't, I don't live afraid of God. But let me say it this way. You know, I fear you. I fear you in the way this is meaning.
[23:24] I respect you. I have a reverential awe or fear for you. I don't want to offend you. I don't want to disappoint you. I don't want to not be who ought to be.
[23:36] And so I fear God not like, oh, he's going to hit me anytime and boy, he's a big bad bully God. No, but I know he's almighty God. I know he knows tomorrow as well as he knew yesterday or knows yesterday.
[23:49] I know that God is everything. I know this. that if I don't, if he doesn't want me to wake up tomorrow morning, I won't wake up.
[24:02] I know this. All he has to do is one little blink of his eye and my heart quits beating. He is almighty God. Oh, he is God.
[24:14] He's in total and complete charge. Can you say amen right there? And our children ought to know, boy, we know who God is. I mean, let me explain to you.
[24:24] When I was in college, they said that man invented God and they developed a God that went along with their own consciousness and what they felt like. And so we all wrote our own God and the Jews made up a God and the Christians made up a God and the Hindus made up gods and the Buddhists made up God.
[24:40] But I know from the Bible, that's not what happened. I know God made me up. I know that, I know that everything about me is something God's been doing in my life.
[24:50] I want to teach my children that. I want to consciously recognize what he's doing. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 10. It shall be when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he is swearing to thee, unto your fathers, and to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities which you did not build, and houses full of good things which you did not fill, and wells dug which you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant.
[25:22] And when you eat and get full, you'll forget him. Once we're successful, it's easy to forget who made us successful.
[25:38] He brought us out of sin and slavery. He gave us a new life we didn't deserve. I don't ever want to forget that. I want my kids to grow up hearing about that. You know, the last thing you do is pray.
[25:55] You only pray when you have to. If a lawyer will fix it, get a lawyer. If a doctor will fix it, get a doctor. If medicine will fix it, get medicine.
[26:06] If an accountant will fix it, get an accountant. And if all else fails, let's pray. That's the opposite of what God wants us to do. God wants us to live going, Oh God, you may use a doctor, but I know it's you.
[26:20] You may use a lawyer, but I know it's you. I want to consciously, consistently recognize him. Raising counter-cultural children requires personal discipline.
[26:32] Look at Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 17. You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, his testimonies, his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.
[26:46] Would you underline diligently keep the commandments? Did you know that we are one generation away from atheism? You'll meet a person in jail in successful business who you have no idea is a believer.
[27:12] And when you get to talking to them, they'll say, yeah, my grandparents believed like that. I was in China in 1999.
[27:23] It's the 50th anniversary of communist takeover. And I was told I had to be very careful not to talk about Jesus. They said, if they ask you a question, you can talk.
[27:35] And while we were talking, they said, well, sir, what's the most important holiday in America? I said, well, there's two real big ones. And they said, Christmas.
[27:47] So I said, okay, we'll go with that one. I said, y'all know why that's important? They said, Santa Claus? I said, nah, that's not why it's important to us. And they said, who? I said, you ever heard of a guy named Jesus Christ?
[28:01] And one of the girls raised her hand and goes, my grandmama believes like that. But she was an atheist. The little girl was an atheist. And if you and I are diligently keeping the commandments, you see, it doesn't really matter.
[28:17] I'm not telling my kids to keep them. I'm keeping them. See, your kids don't do what you tell them to do. They do what you do. Amen.
[28:28] They do what you do. They know what you do. I remember one day we were on the way to, from my home, 10 miles into the big city of McEwen, 1,800 people population.
[28:42] And my dad drove like a crazy man. I mean, that car was all over the road the whole time. He was driving so fast. I kept thinking, whoa, this is great. I'm going to do this too.
[28:54] And we slid to a stop at the stops. I'm pulling into McEwen. He turned, looked at me, said, don't you ever drive like that. I got a car I wrecked three times when I was 16, glory to God. Trying to be like daddy, say amen.
[29:06] He kept it out of the ditch. I couldn't. Did you know if we love him, we keep his commandments? John chapter 14 and verse 15, if you love me, keep my commandments.
[29:21] You ever try to rearrange the commandments to your comfort level? Well, we must have dedicated opinions. Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 18, thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord.
[29:37] And I wish you'd take your Bible and just underline real quickly, in the sight of the Lord. Now, listen to me when I say this. It doesn't matter what scientists ends up telling us about man marrying man, woman marrying woman, what our genders are, or if drugs are okay.
[30:00] It doesn't matter what they tell us. Because, see, we don't live by that. We live by, underlining in your Bible, in the sight of the Lord. And so, when the scientist steps out and tells me that it's okay, like I heard some intelligent person say this week, instead of saying mother, she said birth giving person.
[30:20] And so, happy birth giving person day to all you ladies. You know what I'm going to say is, hold on one minute. Let me go find out what God says about what you're talking about.
[30:31] Because that's what we do in the sight of the Lord. Lord, you will face difficult options. Look, if you would, at Jeremiah chapter 6, verse 14.
[30:42] Raising these children means that we have to face difficult options. You shall not go after other gods of the gods of the people which are around about you.
[30:53] Don't be like lost people. Don't believe what they believe. Don't even search out what they search out. Just realize that's not who we are.
[31:06] We don't do that. Amen. You want to write? You know, it's hard. Because your kid comes home and says, well, in school they said that our parents might be. And then they got some fancy word they made up for senator.
[31:21] And you're going to have to look at them and say, we don't serve those gods. Maybe they ought not be in that school. I shouldn't have said that, should I? But Jeremiah 620, we must prepare for discussion.
[31:35] Jeremiah 620, the Bible says, And when thy son asks thee in time to come, what mean the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments which the Lord our God hath commanded you?
[31:48] So one day, your six-year-old, your four-year-old, your eight-year-old, your ten-year-old or your 16-year-old says to you, Mama, what did the preacher mean today?
[32:01] You need to be ready to give an answer. The Bible says in the book of Peter that you should be ready to give an answer. But you need to be ready for this discussion. You need to be ready for them to ask any kind of question they want to ask.
[32:15] That's why you want to go to the Bible Institute. That's why you want to get involved in personal discipleship. That's why you should not miss Sunday school. You just shouldn't miss Sunday school.
[32:26] You know why? Because you've got a test coming, Mom, by your kid giving you the test. That's why you shouldn't miss personal Bible reading every day. You've got to get ready because they're going to ask you hard questions.
[32:41] And so be ready to answer. And remember his activity in your life. Look at Jeremiah 621. The Lord brought us out of Egypt.
[32:53] We used to be Pharaoh's bondmen, servants, slaves. I'm going to say this and I'm done. We need a reasonable attitude when we have these discussions.
[33:06] You know what pastors and parents often do when they don't have a good answer? They yell and say, you just do as I say.
[33:20] You just believe me. Your kids are going to need more than that. Because the smartest people in their lives, the smartest people in their lives are telling them lies.
[33:34] I went off to college. My daddy didn't want me to go to college. Not to Bible college. He told me before I left, he said, son, they'll turn you against God.
[33:45] But all the preachers in them country churches said, you won't have no fire for Jesus when you come home. It didn't take one year for them to tell me the Bible was full of mistakes.
[34:01] God didn't love everybody. God didn't create the world. Jesus was the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier, not a virgin born. I remember coming home.
[34:16] My daddy said, what did they teach you? And I told him, boy, you don't tell a country bumpkin what they said about the Bible. He might not have had the Bible answers or the Hebrew or the Greek.
[34:28] But he knew enough to know that was junk. And did he ever tell me? And you know what I did? I came back to where I was supposed to be. Say amen. You see, you need to be ready to give a reasonable answer.
[34:42] Do you want to raise children that don't fit in in this world? I did. And I do. And I want my children to fit in in that world. Not this world.
[34:53] To be honest with you, I want my grandsons to marry girls. I'm just being honest. Just being honest with you. I just want my grandsons to marry girls.
[35:05] I want my granddaughters to marry boys. I just, I mean, I really do. I mean, I don't know. Does that sound weird, y'all? I want them to get saved. I want them to go to church.
[35:18] I want them to be faithful to Jesus. I want to raise them so that when people walk down the road, they go, that's a weird bunch of people over there. They're always reading the Bible. You know, they don't have any fun. They don't do none of the junk we do.
[35:30] That's fine with me. I want to raise kids that love Jesus. Study Deuteronomy chapter 6. It's a great chapter written by a great God to tell us how to raise great kids.
[35:42] Father in heaven, I love you. I thank you for the chance to serve you. I pray your blessings on these wonderful mothers today. And I pray your blessings on our church as we try to honor you and serve you and love you today.
[35:53] God, I love you. And I thank you. Now help us raise our children in a way that would bring honor to your name. And I'll give you praise. With heads bowed and eyes closed, there are some moms that probably ought to get, just take your husband's hand if you want to, but come find a place to pray and say, boy, I'm going to take seriously my responsibility to raise my children for Jesus, to raise my grandchildren for Jesus.
[36:16] I want to raise them for him. Some of us haven't been walking in, we have not been walking in the commandments. We haven't been really living up to it. We're just kind of coasting and we ought to get that right with God because too many people, little eyes are watching us.
[36:31] Would you let God do a work in your life? There might be somebody in the room that's not sure you're born again. You're not sure you'd go to heaven if you die. I'd love to help you. If you'll hold your hand up wherever you are, I'll help you. Would there be anybody?
[36:41] I'm not sure I'm saved. I'm not sure I'd go to heaven if I die. Father God in heaven, would you do a work today? Would you change lives? Would you draw people to you? Would you make? Help us grow.
[36:54] Do something special in our lives and I'll give you praise. You pray there in your seat. Pray here at the altar. Whenever you finish praying, you stand and sing with Stephen if you would.