[0:00] Now go back with me through this passage of scripture. There are great things here. I hope you'll underline. Take your Bible. I hope you got a Bible. Take your Bible and underline some things. Look at Luke chapter 1 and verse 1 and underline, most surely believed among us.
[0:17] Luke's going to tell us the story of Jesus. And he's going to lay it out. He's a medical doctor. And he's analytical. And he's studious. And he's disciplined. And so he says, I'm going to put together a study for my buddy Theophilus.
[0:31] And for all of you learned, people that want to know about the Bible. And I'm just going to lay out what we believe and why we believe it. So it's surely believed among us. If you're a born again believer this morning, you believe it.
[0:43] Is that true? Amen or not? You believe the word of God. You believe all we're about to read. In verse 2, he says, I want you to underline, delivered them unto us. Underline that.
[0:54] See, you understand that God has delivered to you his word. You hold in your hands this morning, excuse this, but not a Bible or a book that you might use by that.
[1:06] You hold scripture. We call it a Bible. But you hold holy words of God. And they came to us because the Holy Spirit of God moved among holy men.
[1:16] But Luke says, I'm going to put it together. And even the lost world will have to admit I'm right because I'm going to do this analytically. And he said, I'm going to talk to eyewitnesses.
[1:27] He says in verse 3, underline, I got perfect understanding. I've done my study. I've figured it out. I've talked to people. I've dealt with witnesses. And he says in verse 3, I'm going to write it to you in order.
[1:40] And he writes it to a guy named Theophilus. He'll also write the book of Acts to this guy named Theophilus. And he is confident of the things he's going to say.
[1:50] Underline in verse 4, certainty. Certainty of the things. Got that? Certainty. Luke says, hey, I'm about to tell y'all truth.
[2:02] I'm about to tell you stuff. I looked it up. I asked people. I investigated. But it's really the Holy Spirit of God that's going to give me the words I'm about to give you. These are the words of God.
[2:14] We believe them. And they are true. Amen? They're not true because we believe them. They're true because God said them. And we believe them because we're just obeying God.
[2:24] Now I want to take those four verses now and jump down, if I could, to verse 5. And I want to talk to you about Zacharias. I want to talk to you about a man and this story and how God works in his life.
[2:35] So go with me to verse 5. A man of godly character. In verse 5, underline the days of Herod. Luke said, I will tell y'all when this happened.
[2:46] And he said, there was a guy named Zacharias and his wife's name was Elizabeth. There was a man named Zacharias. His wife's name's Elizabeth. And that's where our story of Jesus Christ will start.
[2:59] And then he says in verse 6, look at it. He talks to us about Zacharias and about his wife. And he says, and they were both righteous before God.
[3:11] I want to ask you to circle the word both. And I want to talk to everybody in this room. It's amazing. This man didn't believe it. By himself, this man and his wife believed it.
[3:24] That means somewhere along the way, they've been having a discussion. He wasn't spiritual in her worldly. She wasn't spiritual in him worldly. They together had decided, boy, we believe God and we serve God.
[3:39] I'd like to stop and just say to every man in this room, you are the godly spiritual leader of your home. Do you sit around in your house and have discussions with your family?
[3:50] Not about what's on the menu. Not about how we pay the bills. But how we know God. Sir, this man was righteous.
[4:01] This man was righteous before God. But he wasn't righteous by himself. They were both righteous. That's a tremendous truth that ought to be real in every one of our lives.
[4:13] But then I want you to look at the word righteous. I know you know this, but let's go through it again. You know, you don't get clean before God. You don't get righteous.
[4:24] You get declared righteous. You get made clean. You get made clean. You get made righteous. You get declared righteous. And that's when God saves us.
[4:35] Can I just remind everybody real quick? Righteous is right and not righteous is wrong. Righteous is doing what God wants. And not being righteous is sinning or rebelling against God or doing your own thing.
[4:48] And every person who is not righteous will spend eternity in hell. Whether we like to hear it or not, whether it floats our boat or not, whether we're excited about it or not, that's a Bible truth.
[5:03] And the way a person gets saved is they realize they need to be made righteous. These guys aren't righteous because they're serving God. These guys are serving God because they are righteous.
[5:13] God made them righteous before God. I need just a second with you on that. Not before men.
[5:24] Not before the family. Not before they were. But God, the Holy Spirit says, you write this down, Luke. You write Zechariah and Elizabeth, those two. They are righteous in my opinion.
[5:37] And that's the question we need to answer this morning. Am I righteous in God's opinion? Am I righteous in God's opinion? Before the eyes of God, does he look down and say, that guy's mine.
[5:51] That guy's saved. That guy's right. I can't leave this without reminding you one more time, please. The most important leadership you have is not raising your children and getting them an education.
[6:03] The most important leadership you have is knowing where they will spend eternity. We get so consumed with making a good salary and having them have fun and taking them on vacation and making memories with them.
[6:19] And we forget the absolute most important thing possible. My children need to hear about God from me. It is not the job of the church.
[6:30] It is not the job of the Sunday school. It is not the job of Awanas. It is not the job of others. They are the children God loaned me. And I want to teach them.
[6:41] Look back, if you would, in Luke chapter 6. We are talking about his character. They are righteous. They are both righteous in the sight of God. And they are controlled. I wish you would write that down somewhere.
[6:52] They are controlled by the word of God. They are obedient. Look at what it says. It says, walking in all the commandments. They were not only made righteous.
[7:03] They were living righteous. They were not only declared righteous. They were acting out who they were. They lived a life that said, God saved me.
[7:13] And watch this. I need to remind you. Sometimes people say stuff to me like, what we do is not important. It's who we are in Christ. But can I just say something to you? Who you are will make you do what you're supposed to do.
[7:27] If you love God, you must what? Can you answer that? If you love God, you must keep his commandments. If you love God, you... Come on, say it. If you love God, you keep his commandments.
[7:39] The Bible says that in the book of John. You love God, you will keep his commandments. Look if you look at Luke chapter 6 and that last word in the verse. They were blameless. They were blameless.
[7:51] You might write this beside that. They had a clear conscience before God. They knew that their sins had been forgiven. They were living like he wanted them to.
[8:02] They had a clear conscience. Boy, I am serving the God of heaven. It ought to be... That's a sermon all by itself. Everybody in this room, we ought to be convicted to live a life of faith based in knowing Jesus, training our family, leading our family, and that ought to be who we are.
[8:23] But Zacharias was also a man of great conflict. Look, if you went at Luke chapter 1 and verse 7. Boy, God's been good to Zacharias. He's got a good wife.
[8:34] He's got a good life. He's got a good ministry. But he's got a barren wife. Look at verse 7. No child. No child.
[8:46] Elizabeth was barren. It'd do us well right now to stop and think about that a second. We have one of the greatest stories in the Bible about being barren that you could ever read.
[8:57] A guy named Abraham wanted God to let him have children. And he begged God to let him have children. Because having children... And he was going to be the father of many nations.
[9:08] But he didn't have any children. And it broke his heart he didn't have any children. And so he schemed. And he plotted. And he planned to have children. Because having children is a big deal.
[9:20] We have a story of a lady named Hannah. And she went. And her sister wife... Her husband had two wives. And Peniel was a woman that had lots of babies.
[9:30] And Hannah didn't have any babies. And Hannah would say to her husband, Give me a baby. And he said, I can't do it. It's not up to me to give you a baby. God's got to do it. He said, Am I not better than many children?
[9:44] She's like, I've got to have a child. And she begged God. And God gave her Samuel. Being barren was a horrible thing. It may aggravate you when I say this.
[10:01] But while people were broken hearted about being barren, Today people find children to be a bother. And they want to kill them. When they're in the womb. And while Elizabeth was barren and broken hearted about it, People today are often like, Can I avoid children?
[10:20] And if I get pregnant, I'll just get rid of it. Not much of a nice way to say it. Boy, we've come a long ways, baby. We've come from a time when a woman was broken hearted Because she was barren To a time a woman is broken hearted Because she gets pregnant.
[10:39] That we're not only barren, This is a battered woman. She's been battered by ages. Look at verse 7. Both were well stricken in years.
[10:50] Now that's a nice Bible term. Me and my wife are starting to enjoy that time of life, you know. It's like, Life's been beating up on them a long time. And they are well stricken in years.
[11:03] I just, Is that not funny? Come on, tell the truth. Then when you look at some of the old people, You're like, My goodness, You look like you've been well beaten. I mean, well stricken in years. Look if you would down at verse 24.
[11:16] In Luke chapter 1 and verse 24, She's going to be blessed. In verse 24, After those days, This, His wife Elizabeth, Conceived, And hid herself five months.
[11:30] I would just, I think, I just, I just think that's kind of funny. You know, Most young, You ever, You ever notice what young girls do today? It's size of a grape today, Grapefruit tomorrow, And a, And a cabbage the next day, And whatever.
[11:46] And they got all their pictures. And Elizabeth's like, I'm an old woman. And are they going to be talking? So she's like, She's like, Honey, Take me to the countryside, And hide me.
[11:57] No Facebook pictures whatsoever. Nobody tweet out a picture of me. I am pregnant. But she said in verse 25, My boy, The Lord's dealt with me.
[12:08] And I want you to understand What he said about it. What she said about it. You need to understand this In your Bible. He has taken away my reproach. Elizabeth walked in the room.
[12:20] All the other mamas went, That's Elizabeth. She can't have kids. I don't know what the problem is. Because you live in America, You don't understand.
[12:30] When you live overseas, People are just so much blunter And more frank. I don't know how many times. You know, If you were at a church, Like if you were not, A keeper back in our day, A young girl or a kid, Somebody might just come up to you And pat you on the belly And say, Are you pregnant?
[12:46] And you say, No, I'm just fat. Thank you. And if you don't have a baby, They start giving you every remedy. On the full moon, Drink this.
[12:57] Sit here. Do that. Don't do this. Nobody wants to not have a baby. You see, Elizabeth was suffering reproach.
[13:08] She walks in a room, And all the mamas stand up on Mother's Day. And Elizabeth's like, I don't ever get to stand up. Elizabeth was delivered by God, And he took away her reproach From among men.
[13:24] I want you just to consider with me The great benefit of understanding The plight of old Zechariah and Elizabeth Before I go to the couple of things I think are going to be Really helpful to us.
[13:37] They never let their problems Become an excuse Not to be in service Of the Lord. Amen. I wonder if Elizabeth ever woke up On a Saturday morning For Sabbath day And said to her husband, I won't go today.
[13:54] People always talk about me being barren. I wonder if old Elizabeth Thought to herself, Okay, honey, I'll go to church, But you know, They're having that ladies meeting This time, And it's mothers And their children.
[14:08] And everybody in the room knows. But they never let that stop them. Do you really get, You reckon maybe, Oh, Oh, Zechariah was like, God, Could I have a baby, Please? Could my wife have a baby?
[14:19] I really want us to have a baby. God, I'd like to be a daddy. And they go to church. They don't let that become an excuse. How many of us have allowed The smallest nothing To be an excuse?
[14:31] Somebody at church Didn't shake my hand. Somebody said something ugly to me. Somebody did this to me. And I don't want to go to church. But not Elizabeth and Zechariah. Zechariah.
[14:42] They didn't let that hinder them. They prayed privately. But publicly, They continued in faith. I can only imagine their prayer life.
[14:53] I can only imagine those. Because you know what the angel's going to say? God's heard your prayer. That means they were praying. Can I get an amen there? He said, God's heard your prayer. He's going to give you the baby.
[15:04] We're promised that God wants to hear And answer our prayers. Zechariah had a meeting of God's concern Because an angel's going to come talk to him.
[15:15] So go down with me to Luke chapter 1 and verse 8 if you would. No matter the shame they feel. No matter the hunger for a child they feel. They keep doing what they're supposed to do. I just love verse 8.
[15:27] He said, He said, It came to pass that while he executed the priest's office, He was just doing his job. He was playing the guitar in the worship service.
[15:38] He was running the sound system in the worship service. He was taking care of the nursery in the service. No matter how much it felt embarrassing. No matter how many people might talk about it.
[15:48] He didn't stop. And I think the reason is, I wish you'd underline it in your Bible, Before God. Look at that. He said, I don't go to church because I like how people treat me.
[16:00] I don't go to church because I feel like everybody loves me. I don't go to church because I love the music. I go to church for God. I'm there before God. Can I get an amen right there?
[16:11] I didn't come this morning because Austin's a good preacher. I came because God's a good God. I didn't come this morning because my Sunday school teacher's all that great. But I came because I love God.
[16:22] He executed his office before God. He went into the temple to offer up the prayers. And outside the people were praying. And in verse 11, He gets a summons from the Lord.
[16:35] An angel came unto him. An angel of the Lord. And it scared him to death. In verse 12, Zechariah saw him, And he was troubled, And fear fell upon him.
[16:47] This is a guy in Old Testament, When angels are a little more frequent than they are here. But I'll just give you a hint. If I was back in my office praying about the service, Or I was in my office yesterday at home, And working on this message, Or I was in a time of prayer, And an angel showed up, I would be troubled, And fear would fall upon me.
[17:05] The fact is, You could go ahead and call 911. You could say, What in the world happened to Austin? I'd be like in shock. And Zechariah said, Like, Lord help me, An angel just showed up.
[17:18] And the angel gave a statement with a great promise. He said, God heard you, Buddy. God heard your petition. Look at Luke chapter 1 and verse 13. Zechariah, Fear not.
[17:30] Be not afraid, Zechariah. Your prayer is heard. Your prayer is heard. God doesn't always answer prayer quickly. In our Sunday school class in the morning, In the book of Daniel, Daniel's been praying for three weeks.
[17:48] He's been at least, Maybe not hungry, But he ate no pleasant food. And he didn't, A man that's taking a bath, It says he didn't anoint his body for three weeks. I don't know how the boy's smelling by now.
[18:00] And he's praying, And Gabriel shows up and says, Hey, I'm here with the answer to your prayer. The minute you prayed it, God sent me. But the prince of Persia withstood me.
[18:12] Did you understand that you might pray to God, And ask God for things, And he might not answer you today? Do you understand that you may be asking God for a baby, And up in heaven, God's like, Elizabeth and Zechariah, I got big plans for y'all.
[18:26] Y'all gonna have a baby, honey. And it's gonna be one of the most special babies ever. But I'm gonna let you wait a while. You just keep on praying. I'm gonna answer. I know what I'm gonna do. You just keep on praying.
[18:37] And the prayer will be answered. I don't know. They probably didn't know that, did they? But now an angel shows up. And the angel says, Your prayer has been heard.
[18:49] In verse 13, He says, I promise you a son. Elizabeth shall bear thee a son. And you'll call his name John. Now, You remember what happened with Abraham and Sarah, don't you?
[19:07] When God says, Yep, it'll be about a year from now when y'all have the baby. They're both like, We're well stricken in years over here. We've been beat up by nature and life.
[19:20] And I don't know about that. God's like, When I say it, It happens. And he said, Y'all gonna have a son. And buddy, It's gonna make everybody happy.
[19:31] Verse 14, You will have joy and gladness, And many shall rejoice at his birth. God meets his people in their service to him.
[19:43] Let your prayer, Let your hurt and suffering drive you to the Lord in prayer. I know we have hurting people in this room.
[19:54] I know we have hurting, needy people. Zacharias and Elizabeth were hurting and needing people, But they went to God in prayer. Hunger for God to speak to you from his word.
[20:06] Humbly praise him for every way that he answers your prayers. And John is gonna have a ministry of great calling. Look if you would at Luke 1, 15.
[20:18] God says, I got big plans for John. You know, Jesus will be born of a virgin. That's miraculous. John's born of a lady who can't have babies. That's miraculous.
[20:29] We're starting a story of big stuff. And miraculous stuff. And in verse 15 it says, He shall be great in the sight of the Lord.
[20:41] I wish you'd circle or underline, In the sight of the Lord. You realize that greatness, I'm sure the blogosphere and the twitter sphere and everybody else, They wouldn't have thought John was all that much.
[20:57] But God knew who was big and who was great. And that's what's important. John's gonna live for the glory of God. And God's gonna think John is great.
[21:10] God has big plans. But now I want to just take a couple of minutes with you. Some very important things I think. I want you to notice that God wants John to prevent influence of ungodly spirits in his life.
[21:24] And this is always a tad touchy here I feel. But he says in Luke 1 15, He's not to drink wine nor strong drink.
[21:36] But he's to be filled with the Holy Spirit. There's a parallel verse just about identical in wording in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 18.
[21:47] Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. Now I know that in rich Alpharetta and in highfalutin society that you move in, drinking, at least a social drink is kind of expected and accepted.
[22:10] And I know that I may be the Lone Ranger, but I'm gonna show you some verses. I don't think you should be doing it. I'm just gonna tell you.
[22:21] Don't be mad at me if you want. I really don't care. He said, Now John, I'm fixing to do big stuff with you, buddy. But you stay away from the alcohol. You don't look for outside influence to power you.
[22:34] I'll power you. You don't look for outside influence to control you. I'll control you. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 31 and verse 4 that political leaders are not to drink.
[22:47] If you went to Washington and read this verse, they'd blow that. They'd hate this. They already hate God. Look at Proverbs 31, if you would, verse 4. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink.
[23:07] He said, I don't want my kings and I don't want my princes drinking wine and strong drink. And then he said, I'm gonna tell you why. And you would look at verse 5.
[23:18] Lest they drink and forget the law. They forget what God said. They forget what's right. And they pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.
[23:35] So political leaders, if you drink, it might affect your judgment. You might not make good decisions. So don't do it. I know you're gonna say, we can drink, we just can't get drunk.
[23:50] Well, this word is drink. Hmm. I'll have to think on that a minute. It's not drunk. It's drink. He said, I don't want political leaders drinking.
[24:02] He didn't say drunken. Could I at least get an O me or an amen? Amen. Amen. You might all be a little more careful if you're a leader and you handle the law.
[24:17] Even at your business. I have watched alcohol destroy people. I'm gonna read you more verses. Hang on.
[24:27] I knew a man for over 40 years. Never got drunk. Never tipsy. Never one time.
[24:40] Never slurred the words. He could control his drink. And he would have said to you, I'm a religious man. I'm a spiritual man. And I can drink.
[24:51] His son had a drug problem, but he overcame it. But his grandson died of an overdose. What you reap, what you sow, you reap.
[25:07] Now in Proverbs 31.6, he said, the perishing and poverty stricken, they can drink. The Bible says, give strong drinking to them that are ready to perish. Just go ahead and give them a shot of morphine.
[25:18] They're out of here anyway. And whine to those of a heavy heart. You're never supposed to be a heavy heart. If you got a heavy heart, you ought to go talk to God about it and get some joy in your heart. Say amen.
[25:29] We have never got an excuse to be continually depressed and heavy hearted. Let him drink and forget his poverty. You and I are not poverty stricken. The guy whose house I rented in Mexico, I always kidded him because he owned a nice house I rented and he owned a nice house where he lived.
[25:50] And he owned a, he said, I have another four story house. It was a grave plot in Mexico. You bury four right on top of each other. So I got a two story house, a three story house and a four story house.
[26:03] And I used to kid him and I said, well, you're rich. And he said, of course I am. I'm a child of a king. How could I not be rich? Amen. He wasn't financially rich, but he was spiritually rich.
[26:17] Remember his misery no more. That's not us. Come on. We don't have misery. We have joy. In Leviticus chapter 10 and verse eight, the Lord spake unto Aaron saying, when y'all go to my place of worship, the Lord spake unto Aaron and said, do not drink wine nor strong drink.
[26:41] You or your sons with you when you come to the tabernacle of the congregation or I'll kill you. Right there. Lest ye die.
[26:52] It was a death penalty offense for God's people to drink when they went to worship. In verse 10, he said, I'll tell you why.
[27:04] Because you need to be able to put a difference between holy and unholy. You need to put a difference between clean and unclean. In verse 11, you need to teach your children my law.
[27:20] In Ezekiel 44, in verse 21, the Bible says, neither shall any priest drink wine when they enter into the inner court. That's Old Testament.
[27:32] And they were priests and we're not priests. Yes, we are. You ever read New Testament? Guess how many priests are in this room? All you born again people. And wait a minute, you don't go to the temple.
[27:45] You are the temple. I don't know if you can make the leap that a man of God couldn't go to the temple of God drunk or drinking, not even drinking. But I am the temple.
[27:57] I am the temple. I am the temple. I am the temple. 1 Corinthians 3.16, Know ye not that you are the temple of God? The Spirit of God dwells in you.
[28:11] Look at Luke 1.15. He said, I don't only want you not to drink. I'm trying to show you there's a contrast between outside influence and inside influence. He said, I want you to be filled with the Holy Ghost.
[28:24] I want you to be filled with the Holy Ghost. We're commanded to be filled. It ought to be a continual controlling by the Holy Spirit of God. We should consciously cooperate with Him.
[28:38] He only controls by consent. And there are great consequences when He controls us. You see, in Ephesians 5.18, He said, Be not drunk with wine and wherein there's excess.
[28:51] He said, So don't leave the wine. And in verse 19, He said, Y'all can sing praises, psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. You'll make melody in your hearts and you give thanks to God. You and I ought to be so consumed with God.
[29:05] We want Him. They get filled up with wine and they sing. We get filled up with the Holy Spirit and we sing. Amen. I challenge you as believers to not be socially acceptable, but to be spiritually acceptable.
[29:28] I challenge you to look at it and say, I'm not going to do what everybody else does. And you're going to say to me, but in Alpharetta, you can't move in the circles. I'm moving in if you don't drink. I know some people that do, so I know you can.
[29:41] And whether they did, whether I knew people or not, I got a word from God. You can. Now, his job in verse 16 was to prepare people for the Lord from among the nation of Israel.
[29:52] Verse 16, And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord and he shall go before him. Now, I want you to underline in verse 16, it was Israel. John's ministry was to Israel.
[30:05] He is the last of the Old Testament prophets and he will turn people to the Lord and God's going to go before him. But then I want to take just a minute and I just want to help you with something here as parents.
[30:18] As he went out, he was going to get the peoples, the dads, to focus on their children and make sure their children knew what God taught them so their children would quit being disobedient and would become obedient.
[30:32] Look, if you would, at Luke chapter 1 and verse 17. If you would, look at the verse. He says, He shall go before him in the spirit and power of our lives to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. And this right here is almost an explanation.
[30:45] It's like I'm telling you again, I want the disobedient to come to the wisdom of the just. And mom and daddy is supposed to know the things of God and share the things of God with their children.
[30:56] God said, I'm sending John to get some people ready to know Jesus. He's coming. But I'd like to take just a moment and talk to us as parents about turning the hearts of our fathers to their children.
[31:12] Obviously that was a problem in Israel. You know, moms and dads got more interested in making money and owning sheep and camels and donkeys and farms than they did children.
[31:32] They became materialistic and rich and politically active. But you know that God wants you to focus on the things of God.
[31:47] God wants you to focus on the things of God. As a dad, the most important thing you do is not the education you get your children. It's not the clothes they wear. I know, they wear nice clothes and eat good food and they live in a nice house.
[32:02] But I need them to know Jesus. So I'm going to give you about three or four things you ought to write down. If you want to have your heart turned towards your kids, you ought to make spiritual training a priority.
[32:14] Spiritual training ought to be a priority. In Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 46 he said, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify unto you this day which you shall command to your children to observe and do.
[32:31] Now you know what that said? It said, he's talking to Old Testament people but John's still Old Testament. He said, y'all need to get your hearts set on God and on God's word. And it says, set your hearts.
[32:41] I'm pretty sure that's imperative. Make a decision to make the word of God important in your life. And then make a decision to command your children to know it and to do it.
[32:54] Verse 47 Because life is worthless without the word. Look at it. It is not a vain thing for you.
[33:04] It's your life. It's not a wasted time. You're like, I could make more money than I would teaching the Bible to my kids. I could make more money instead of praying. I could go to the gym and work out and be fit.
[33:16] And it seemed like a waste of time. They already go to church. They're already a part of Iwana. But God said to Moses, you tell them this, it's not a waste of time when you teach your kids about Jesus.
[33:29] Share your testimony of how God's worked in your life. Explain your struggles and how God gave you victory. Go with me to Psalm 78 and verse 4. Psalm 78 and verse 4.
[33:42] The psalmist says, We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and His strength and His wonderful works.
[33:54] It is a constant thing in the Old Testament that God says, I brought you up out of Egypt.
[34:08] Do you realize hundreds of years later they're still talking about that? Do you know that hundreds of years later they're still talking about manna and serpents and a bronze serpent lifted up in the wilderness?
[34:21] They're still talking about it. You know why? Because mom and daddy and son will teach them about it. In verse 5 it says, It was commanded of our fathers that they should make them known to their children. He said that the generation to come might know them, verse 6.
[34:36] Arise and declare them to their children. Why? Because I want my children, verse 7, to set their hope in God. Now listen, I know I have really changed the order of service and everything today, but you go to most churches and it's empty of kids.
[34:54] Kids get about 18 years of age and they leave. And so you got a bunch of children and you got a bunch of old people. Somewhere along the way we fail to make spiritual training a priority.
[35:07] Somewhere along the way we may know Bible, but we haven't lived the Bible and we haven't taught our children to live Bible. verse 8, he said, I don't want to be like their daddies, that they might not be like their daddies that haven't served me and haven't honored me.
[35:27] Go, if you would, to Proverbs 22, 6. Spend time with them. Invest in them. Train up a child in the way he should go and when he's old he'll not depart from it.
[35:38] It takes time to teach and train children. This is more than a list of rules. This is more than giving a spanking.
[35:51] It's time and the word. It's time teaching our children to work. It's time teaching our children to avoid spiritual sin.
[36:02] Do you realize that my failure to train my kids may cause my kid to end up in jail someday? If he's allowed rebellion, and a wicked attitude and spirit, he may walk away.
[36:18] And gentlemen, it's not for your wife to teach your kids. You're the man. You're the pastor of your home. And it's not to have a bunch of rules and lord it over your kids.
[36:30] It's to train them. To gently train them. We need to separate them from worldly influence and temptation and get them separated to godly influence.
[36:46] The television, the iPad, the digital influence. We just tell our kids, just go watch it. I don't want to have to talk to you.
[36:57] When I was a kid, the rule was children to be seen and not heard. Your rules are they're not to be seen or heard. Here's an iPad, go do something else.
[37:09] We need to be careful what you're watching. Man, they're getting on porn as early as five and six years of age.
[37:30] And then we don't help them beat it. We may destroy their phone, but the phone's never the problem.
[37:41] It's the heart that's the problem. People tell me, sometimes, I got rid of my phone, I won't look at porn. I'm like, oh, you'll look at porn. You just found another way. See, the problem's not your phone.
[37:54] The problem is your heart. We should solicit God's touch on our lives. Let's pray for them. How are you preparing yourself, your family, your heart, your ministry to fulfill what God's called you to do?
[38:08] I know it's real late, so I'm going to basically jump from here, but let me just show you real quickly. All this caused a movement of great consideration. When Zacharias walked out, I had this meeting with God, everybody's like, where you been, buddy?
[38:22] And he said, boy, God met with me and I can't talk anymore, and there was a move from God. I'd just like to stop here and say this to you. our money and our position and our comfort are leading us to be more worldly than spiritual.
[38:49] The word of God is not a part of our daily search. church, it is more important that I get to the gym than I get to the prayer room.
[39:03] It is more important that I get to the clubhouse and the club meeting than it is I spend time with God and we wonder why God's not moving and working. And you know better.
[39:17] Everybody in this room, you know everything I know. Sometimes I think maybe the most discouraging thing about being a pastor here is that you know as much as I know. I'm not teaching you.
[39:28] I'm just reminding you. You know. You know. Maybe you should come forward and say, I've been so worried about being socially accepted and worried about being spiritually accepted.
[39:46] Maybe you should say, I've been allowing outside influences and not Holy Spirit influences. Maybe you should say, I haven't dedicated myself to my children's spiritual upbringing like I should.
[40:02] Maybe you should say, I am not sure that I'm blameless or righteous before God and I need to be saved today. But let me tell you something.
[40:14] This is a powerful passage of Scripture and we cannot go home the same way we came. Not because I had anything to say.
[40:25] It's what the Word of God said to you. You read it as like I did. I really want to beg you. Your kids need to see that you are concerned enough about them you're praying for.
[40:39] You need to go home and empty that liquor cabinet. Get rid of those beers. Your kids know. They know. And whatever you're doing a little bit of are going to do a lot of.
[40:58] With our heads bowed and our eyes closed, if the Lord's dealt with your heart, I want to ask you to get out of your seat. Come find a place to pray. Right now. I want to ask you to come and say, boy, the Holy Spirit of God has dealt with my heart.
[41:13] He has shown me some failures in my life. He has shown me some things I need to be working on. Maybe you want to tell Him you're going to get rid of that alcohol. Maybe you want to tell Him you're going to spend time with your children.
[41:27] Maybe you want to tell Him you're going to quit worrying about what people think of you. You're going to be more worried about what Jesus thinks of you. Whatever it is, I'm begging you to do it right now. I'm begging you to come.
[41:39] I'm begging you to come. Make a move. Let's honor God today. Now somebody might just be in the room this morning and you've never been saved. You're not born again.
[41:50] If you were to die, you don't know you'd go to heaven. You don't know that your sins are forgiven, but God loves you. God loves you. And Jesus died on a cross for you. He paid your sin debt and you can be saved today.
[42:04] And I want to ask you to let us take the Bible and show you how to go to heaven when you die. Would there be anybody like that in the room? Would there be anybody like that in the room and say, boy, I just want God to deal with my heart.
[42:15] I want to be saved today. Would there be anybody like that? You pray there in your seat. Whenever you finish praying, you can stand and sing with Stephen as he leads us in a song. God, please do a work in our lives and I'll give you praise for it.
[42:27] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.