The Responsibilities of Parents to Children

I cannot think of a better song to sing before we get into God's Word. Speak, O Lord. Every phrase, every line speaks to what we're doing here as we're under God's Word. As a matter of fact, I'm gonna ask Brother Keith if he would sing that at the end of our message. You know, every time we have a message like this, we always sing a hymn in response. We sing a hymn in response, a song in response. We want to respond to what the Lord has taught us, and I think that would be a good one for us to sing in response to what we're gonna study this morning. I appreciate Brother Keith leading us in that song.

Now, if you would take your Bible and turn back to Ephesians chapter 6, I know that we did cover verses 1, 2, and 3 last week. I'll read those again a little later, but we'll be in verse 4. We'll only cover verse 4. Verses 1, 2, and 3 is one side of the coin. If I could use that illustration. In the other side of the coin is verse 4. Now, last week when we covered verse 1, 2, and 3, I called that message the responsibilities of children and parents, and we saw that there were responsibilities on both sides. Now, the main point of that message was this command from Paul that children are to obey their parents for the sake of the Lord.

And we also saw in Colossians 3.20 that children are to obey their parents in all things, and this type of obedience pleases the Lord. And from those verses we also saw that Paul gave three reasons why this is good. First of all, he simply says that obedience is right. Now, I call that spiritual common sense. Obedience is right. It's common sense. And then second, he says that obedience is biblical. We see this in both the Old and the New Testament. And then last, he says that obedience brings both spiritual and physical blessings. But we also saw that parents have quite a lot of responsibilities here.

That is why I did title the message the responsibilities of children and parents. Now, if you have not gotten that teaching, I challenge you to go back and get that. I challenge you to go listen to that message and maybe get my notes because this is a two-sided coin. And if you miss one side, you're gonna really miss it all because this all goes together. Now, this morning we're still dealing with the home and with the home life. I already shared that with you during our scripture reading. And we're still dealing with the very important subject of submission. Now, children, teenagers, listen to your pastor.

If you are not submitting to your parents in your heart and in your mind and in your attitude, well, you are in sin. You're in sin. And if you're not submitting to your parents by being obedient to them and all things, then you are in sin. Now, let me share something with you. Attitude determines action. And by your actions, if you are disobedient and living in disobedience, it's because you have the attitude of disobedience. And then we're also still dealing with the very important subject of mutual submission. Look, moms and dads, if you are not submitting one to another in your parenting, then you are not parenting as you should.

In my humble opinion, that is one of the biggest problems that parents have today. Many are terrible at this mutual submission when it comes to parenting. And in our message this morning, we are continuing with these verses that have to do with the Christian home and relationships within the home. We will examine the responsibilities that fathers have to their children, and we will see that mothers are in the mix as well. So I titled the message this morning, "The Responsibilities of Parents to Children." The responsibilities of parents to children. But before we get into verse 4, we need to see more foundational facts about the home.

Now, last week we looked at certain undeniable facts about the home, and I want to add to that list this morning. Last week we looked at the fact that the family was and is ordained by God. The family was and is ordained by God. Genesis chapter 1 and 2, as well as the rest of biblical teaching, tell us that God gave us the family. The Scriptures clearly tell us that the family originated with God and not from man. Scriptures tell us that after God created the first man and the first woman, he performed that first wedding ceremony.

And in Genesis 1, verse 27 and 28, we see that God blessed Adam and Eve in their union, and He called them to be fruitful and to multiply. In our language God was saying, "Have a lot of babies. Fill up the earth." In Luke Church, Satan's first recorded attack on earth in his fight against God was an attack where? On the family. And Satan has been attacking the family ever since, and he still is today. And then last week we looked at the fact that children are a blessing from God. Children are a blessing from God. We see this fact clearly stated in Psalm 127, verse 3.

The New American Standard says, "Behold children are a gift of the Lord." The English Standard says, "Behold children are a heritage from the Lord." And this simply means that children are, they are a reward, they are a gift, they are an inheritance. This means that children are truly in every way a blessing from God given to the home. And look, church, any believer, any professed believer that has an attitude or some kind of a position that says that children are somehow a nuisance. They say that somehow children are a bother, or they're not needed, or they're not wanted. Look, that comes right out of the sewer of hell. That's not from God.

And this morning I want to give us one more foundational fact about the home. This all goes together. This is undeniable if we study the scriptures, but many fathers deny this fact by their actions in the home. We must understand and accept that fathers are to be the leaders in nurturing their families. Let me repeat that. We must understand and accept the fact that fathers are to be the leaders in their home, and they are to nurture their families. In chapter 5 verses 25 to 33, we learn that husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church. Now why? So as to sanctify her and to present her as holy, the text says.

And here in chapter 6 verses 1 to 4, we see that fathers are given specific instructions not to provoke their children, but to nurture their children. So from these verses on the home, we see that the father is the head of the home, and he is to be the leader, the leader in nurturing his wife and his children in all things. Fathers, there are many lies, many lies that Christian fathers have believed right here. One lie, and this is a popular lie, that is the lie that mother, the mother is to be the primary spiritual influence on the children.

Now look, mothers should be a big spiritual influence on their children, but the father should be the greatest spiritual influence on his entire family. You cannot deny that fact. I'll give you a good example. Go pick up a biography of John G. Patton. Some pronounce it one way, some pronounce it another. He was famous as a missionary to the New Hebrides. He went to the cannibals, the cannibals. Yes, the cannibals. But read early in his biography and read about how he saw his dad, how he saw his father. His father was a wonderful, a gigantic spiritual influence on his entire family, and that's the way it should be.

Another lie that is popular today, and that is that the church should be the primary spiritual influence on the father's children. Now look, church, listen well. The pastor, other church leaders, and a whole host of adults in the church should be a great spiritual influence on all of our children. You can't deny that with an honest reading of the scripture. And look, folks, our family integrated friends are just off here. They're imposing things on the text, and they're ignoring scripture.

And the greatest spiritual influence should be, yes, the husband on the wife and the children, but you cannot deny the fact that God ordains the church and the pastor and many others. Now with those foundational, undeniable facts laid out there for us all to see, let's turn our attention to these responsibilities that fathers and mothers have with their children. Let's go back, and I want us to read verses 1 to 4. And the reason I read verses 1, 2, and 3 again is because, again, this is a two-sided coin. The Lord through Paul says, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother.

This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land." And it's almost like Paul is saying this, "But fathers, do not provoke your children to anger or wrath, but bring them up in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord." Now here in these verses it is clear that God gives fathers certain responsibilities, and again, we will see that mothers are in the mix as well. But Paul gives two commands. The first is negative. That's obvious. And the second is positive.

The first, "Do not provoke your children," and then the second, "Make sure you nurture your children." So number one, I want us to look at, "Do not provoke your children." Paul says to fathers, "Do not provoke your children." Now the full command is this, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger." The King James uses the word "wrath." Many of you are familiar with that language. The King James says, "Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath." Now first off, we need to see that this was a shock to all in Paul's day, especially to fathers.

And that was because in the day in which this letter was written, the father had uncontested supreme authority over his family in all ways. Let me explain a little bit. In a Roman home, when Paul wrote this letter, when a baby was born, it was brought to the father to see if the baby would be accepted into the home or discarded. If a father picked up the baby, he was accepting the child into the home, into the family. But if he walked away from the baby, he was rejecting that child. So the baby would be discarded, it would be possibly killed, it could have been sold or simply given away.

And scholars tell us that rejected babies who weren't healthy and strong, they were taken each night to the town forum where they would be picked up and they would be raised as slaves or prostitutes. And history tells us that sick babies and babies that were not seen as normal, they were usually killed. Sometimes they were thrown into a river. And these things were legal and they were normal and they were a part of everyday life. But what about our day? When babies are not wanted today, they are just aborted. Isn't that right?

Now some of you here this morning, when you were dealing with health concerns during a pregnancy, you had medical doctors counsel you that abortion was an option. Oh, but because you love the Lord, abortion was not an option. And what that tells us is this, in so many ways, our culture is really no different than that pagan Roman culture that Paul was living in. But also in our day, many fathers do not carry the responsibility of any authority with their children. They are AWOL. You know what that term means? AWOL, absence without leave.

They are absent from the authority and the responsibility that God has given them over their family, over their children. They are at the golf course most of the time. They are at the fish camp most of the time. They are at the deer camp most of the time. They are engaged in my time. They are engaged in my hobbies. They are engaged in my career, in my work. So many fathers ditch the authority and the responsibility that they do have with their children and they farm these things out to mom and anybody else. And we see this in many professing Christians, fathers, far too much. But notice who this command is given to.

I've alluded to this quite a bit so far. Our English translations say father. And in the original, this word usually refers to father, but at times it was used for parents in general. In Hebrews 11 23, this same word was used to speak of Moses' parents. And Paul has been writing about both parents in verses 1, 2, and 3. So he very well could have been thinking about both parents. But this is where understanding the culture in the backdrop really helps us here. Because the father was the supreme authority in the home in that day, the father was most likely the one to provoke his children.

So it is best to say that Paul was specifically addressing fathers. Now before I move on, I have a couple of questions for us all. In your home, which parent is most likely to provoke the children? Is it you mom or is it you dad? Which of you is most likely to provoke your children? Now dads and moms, which child are you most likely to provoke? Your son or your daughter? Your oldest or your youngest? Or someone in between? Which child are you most likely to provoke? And you need to ask yourself those questions, and you need to ask those questions among yourselves.

So I think we should address this negative command to two different people in the home. First and foremost, the father. And that is because most scholars think that Paul was specifically addressing fathers. And with their authority and simply by being a man, fathers certainly can provoke their children the most. But this also should be applied to mothers as well. The language certainly does allow for that. And certainly, certainly mothers can provoke their children. And also we need to see what the actual command is.

Now language scholars tell us that this word "provoke" simply means to irritate, to exasperate, to arouse to anger, or to arouse to wrath. I'll give you a little example that'll help you understand what this word "provoke," what this word "irritate," what this "arouse to anger," what it's really like. Many of you know that I grew up with a grandfather that was a big influence in my life. He lived to be 99 and a half in five days. Spent a lot of time with him on his farm. He had 450 acres. And I have said this before. I led a very, very privileged life. People talk about privilege today. I really had a silver spoon in my mouth growing up.

Because when I went squirrel hunting, my grandfather shook the vines. I shot the squirrels. He skinned the squirrels. My granny fried them and I ate them. But my grandfather had this unusual habit. Any time he encountered a rattlesnake, he was like the famous John Eubanks. He was going to give that rattlesnake a sporting chance. He didn't kill rattlesnakes. He would take his shoestring out of his red-winged boot and he would make a little noose and he would catch that rattlesnake. Now it didn't matter if it was three feet, four feet, five feet long. Yeah. I remember growing up off to the side of the camp, he had a rather large cage.

But you didn't call it a cage, you call it a coop. And he kept one snake in there for several years and he fed that snake and fed that snake. I can remember that snake had well over 30 rattles. That's a big rattlesnake. But his custom was this. He would catch that rattlesnake and he had a small coop and he kept it in the basement of the house. Yes, he did. And he would feed those snakes and it was just a curiosity for him. And you know when us guys came along and we were deer hunting, we always would go down to the basement to see what snake he had. I'm telling the truth. Some of you don't think I'm telling the truth.

I can give you a list of 10 or 12 of my relatives and you can call them and they'll say, "Yeah, Pastor Chris telling the truth." But you know what we would do? We'd get around that rattlesnake and we'd take a stick and we'd poke that snake and mess with that snake. We'd get him real mad. You ever heard a rattlesnake rattle? But you know one thing we would do if we had a newcomer, let's say we had a friend there and we were deer hunting, they were a little skeptical to get around that cage. And we'd get them a little closer and we'd get them a little closer and you know that snake doesn't look at you, it detects heat.

So whoever is the closest is whoever he's looking at. And we'd get a friend closer and we get a friend closer. We get that snake madder. We get that snake. I mean we'd poke that snake. And finally when I would get my friend just close enough, I would take that stick and I would ram that snake real hard and wham! He'd hit the side of that cage. I'm telling the truth. See, we would irritate and we would provoke that snake to anger and to wrath. Well here in verse 4 we are not talking about provoking rattlesnakes to anger, but fathers and mothers provoking their children to anger. But what does this look like in a child or a teenager?

John MacArthur says to provoke to anger suggests a repeated ongoing pattern of treatment that gradually builds up a deep-seated anger and resentment that boils over in the outward hostility. One scholar says Paul warns fathers against goading their children, goading their children into a state of perpetual resentment. Warren Wiersby says Paul told parents don't use your authority to abuse the child. But we need to ask a question here. What provokes a child to anger? What irritates? What provokes a child into a state of perpetual resentment that boils over into hostility? And we must see that this happens by our words, by our deeds.

The words we do speak, the words we do not speak, the deeds we do and the deeds we do not do and we will see that that almost covers it all. Now you remember that last week I gave us five practical reasons why the command for children to obey their parents is important. I think that helps some of you. Well right here in the message I want to give us a list of things that parents can do that definitely can provoke their children to anger. Now this comes out of some John MacArthur material but it's real similar to some things that the Baptist commentator John Gill gave.

Matter of fact John Gill's list is a little shorter and this is some of me and some of John Gill and some of John MacArthur. You can go study that on your own. But first parents can provoke their children when parents are overprotective. Simply when parents smother their children by being overly strict. Here the child's judgment is always always questioned. Their decisions and their behavior are always questioned. So trust between the parent and the child is never established and the child feels like they can never ever do anything right or anything on their own. Of course children need careful guidance.

Children they do need particular restrictions but children are learning and children are developing and they are learning and developing individuals in their own right and they must learn to make decisions on their own. They must also be given the space to make mistakes on their own. Of course these decisions should correspond to their age and their maturity. Parents can provoke their children to anger. Number two when favoritism is shown to another child. When parents compare one child up against another that can be devastating. When parents love one child more than the other that can be devastating.

When parents simply treat one child as if they like or love the one more than the others that can be devastating. And when this happens the overlooked child can become a lot of things. They can become discouraged and defeated. They can become resentful and bitter and sometimes permanently and they can act out and most likely will act out in a whole host of ways. Parents can provoke their children to anger. Number three when a child is pushed pushed to achieve beyond reason. Children can be expected to achieve and to produce to such a high degree that they are discouraged and even destroyed instead of built up.

The pressure a parent can put onto a child to achieve can be unrealistic and beyond their years so instead of building them up instead of building them up they are discouraged and even destroyed. I love what MacArthur says here I'm quoting he says fathers fantasize their own achievements through the athletic skills of their sons. You ever seen that? And a mother who fantasize a glamorous career through the lives of their daughters they prostitute their responsibilities as parents. Are you prostituting your responsibilities here?

And look dad mom if your son or daughter feels like they can never satisfy you then you may be pushing them to achieve beyond reason. Parents can provoke their children to anger. Number four when a child is discouraged by a parent all the time. Children who are never encouraged inevitably become discouraged. Children who are never complimented inevitably they are insulted and if a child is always discouraged if he's always insulted then they'll give up.

If a child is never complimented and encouraged then they will feel as if they can never do anything right or anything good and that child can act out by simply quitting or they can act out in anger and in wrath. And parents can provoke their children to anger. Number five when parents fail to sacrifice for their children is needed. When parents will not make the proper sacrifices for their children the children are made to feel like they are not wanted or not even needed. They can come to think that they are simply not important.

They can be made to feel that they are literally in the way of their parents and in the way of their parents happiness. Parents can provoke their children to anger. Number six when parents fail to allow their children to grow up at a normal and expected pace. Correcting children for acting like a child in a normal way will not contribute to the growth and maturity of the child. I need to repeat that. Correcting children for acting like a child in a normal way will not contribute to growth and maturity in a child. In fact the opposite happens.

Most likely that will hinder their growth and that will stifle their maturity and that can literally destroy a child. Parents can provoke their children anger. Number seven when parents use love as a tool for reward or punishment. This is nothing but giving love and acceptance when a child behaves as wanted and then withholding that love and acceptance when a child does not behave the way they're wanted. And this behavior will cause a child to see a parent's love as conditional because it is and they will ultimately grow to see that God's love is conditional and it's not. But this is not a reflection at all of God's love.

God's love is unconditional. He loves us when we behave as he wants us to and when we do not. So parents should love their children as God loves them. How? Unconditionally. And parents can provoke their children to anger. Number eight. This is the last when parents verbally and/or physically abuse their children. Yes, Christian parents should be reminded of these things. In the heat of frustration, in the heat of anger, fathers and mothers can spank their children too much or too hard or too often and these things are not biblical. But this does not only apply to physical abuse. There is verbal abuse as well.

With their attitudes, with their personality, or with their words, parents can exert superior authority and strength and with things like that they can cut them down, they can insult them, they can use sarcasm, and parents can inflict serious harm to their children and these things should never ever be in a Christian home. So with all that we've examined here, it's been a lot. What have we seen? Through Paul, God commands parents, especially fathers, not to provoke their children to anger or wrath.

And we have seen that the father and the mother can provoke their children with the words spoken and not spoken, with deeds done and not done, even with attitudes, the demeanor, personality. And fathers and mothers can even provoke their children in ways that they never imagined simply by those attitudes and their demeanor and how they relate to their children. Now parents, I want to ask you two basic questions. Now usually when I ask you one or two basic questions, there are a lot of other questions around them. First, are you raising a rattlesnake? Are you raising a rattlesnake?

Is your son or daughter mad as a snake and ready to bite you in certain circumstances? Is your son or your daughter mad as a snake and when certain parents deal with them, they bite? Or are they a rattlesnake all the time? You just may be provoking that son or that daughter to anger. Maybe not, but you very well may be provoking that son or that daughter. Now I'm not excusing them of their sinful rebellious spirit either, but if this is you, I encourage you to reach out, open up to someone. Be an open book.

You know it's one thing for you to say to someone, "You know I'm having a little trouble here." It's another thing for you to say, "Can you tell me if I'm doing anything that you see is wrong?" That's really opening up. But a second question, are you raising a possum? Are you raising a possum? Do you know what a possum is? Did you know that that is the only marsupial that we have? Do you know that? Yeah, I know a little bit of science and biology. Some of you know that we used to have a little fice dog named Lucy. Lucy weighed about 15 to 18 pounds, but she identified as a hundred pound pit bull. She did.

You know when my girls were small, we spent a lot of time at the camp, my grandfather's farm. I'll tell you what, we rode those roads on that four-wheeler. We played in the creeks. We went everywhere. I'd put both my girls on that four-wheeler. I'd have Maggie in the front and Annie behind me. Everywhere we went, little Lucy went with us. She had run so hard, she would get overheated and pass out. We'd pick her up and just take her to the creek, lay her in the creek. She'd get up and go on. But you know, every now and then she would come across a possum. I'll tell you, she hated possums. When she found a possum, it was on.

I mean, that was a fight. I would always find where she was. She would have usually the biggest possum. Now, have you ever seen a possum? I mean, I would look at those possums. They would be as big or bigger than her. They have all those long rows of teeth there. And to quote Jerry Clower, I would always look at those possums and say, "I can't understand why that possum doesn't whoop that dog." But she always managed to beat them. But every time she attacked that possum, it'd play possum. They'd roll over. They'd roll over. They don't really fight back. They'd play possum. They'd roll over. And what I mean is this.

When some children or teenagers are provoked to anger, they do not get mad and bite like a snake. They quit. They wilt. They roll over. They play possum. Dad, moms, does your teenager wilt and quit emotionally, verbally, and physically under you? Dad, is your child or your teenager happy and joyful and thriving? But then when you discipline them, they quit emotionally. They shut down verbally. They quit physically, maybe for days. Mom, do you have this effect on your daughter? Because she just can't measure up, you know? When you put the pressure on for her to measure up, does she roll over? Does she shut down? Does she play possum?

And, Dans, do you have this effect on your son? Because, you know, your son just cannot measure up. They're usually normal. They're usually happy. They're usually thriving and joyful. Oh, but when you exert yourself on them, do they roll over and play possum? And look, if this is you, if this is going on in your home, you need some help. And you need to open up and you need to explain what you're doing in your home. And you need to allow an older brother or an older sister in the Lord to speak in your life and say, "You just might not be parenting very well." And I've seen this in professing Christians.

And then number two, finally this last major command. This one will be a little shorter. Number two, make sure you nurture your children. Make sure you nurture your children. Now the full command is this, but bring them up in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord. Now the New American in the English Standard says the same thing, but the King James says, "Bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord." But I want you to notice a big difference in these two commands that we have here in verse 4. "To provoke is negative." I've already said that. "To provoke is to put down, but this phrase bring them up, it is the positive.

You are bringing them up. You are bringing them up." We see this same word translated, "bring them up." It's translated as "nourishes" in chapter 5 verse 29. Let's look at that verse. We read it earlier, go back up to chapter 5 verse 29. Of course Paul's talking to husbands here about how they relate to their wives, and what does he say? "For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it." And in chapter 5 verse 29, Paul says that no one ever hated, they never mistreated their own physical body, but the opposite. We nourish and cherish our body.

That means we feed our body, we nourish our bodies, and we will even cherish our bodies, even when they get older. And in verses 28 to 30, we see that the husband is to nourish and cherish his wife as his own body. So here Paul is saying, "Do not put your children down by provoking them. Do the opposite, nourish and nurture them. Bring them up, bring them up." Now listen church, listen to your pastor here. "You show me a father that does not nurture, nourish, and bring up his children. I will show you a husband that does not nurture, nourish, and bring up his wife." You think about that. You can't divide the two.

"You show me a father who does not nurture and nourish and bring up his children, and I will show you a husband who does not nurture, nourish, and bring up his wife either." And a lot of times you don't see what he does with his wife because it's behind closed doors, but you will see what he does with his children. But back to bringing up children. Is this just a pep talk? Is this being life coach dad? Is this the dad who is nothing but optimistic? Never negative dad? No, that's not the case. Here God uses Paul to call fathers and mothers to bring up.

I love that phrase, "to bring up their children in two ways." First in the discipline of the Lord. Now this word discipline simply means training up a child, and it speaks to training a child purposefully, intentionally, and systematically. Systematically simply means to have a plan. Your plan might be different than mine. And this includes many things, correction and wrongdoing, as well as instruction and right doing. Both are forms of discipline. Yes. This involves education, and not just spiritual education, but education in a whole host of areas in life that relate to the child.

And remember, this is bringing up, bringing up, not putting down. The father is to bring them up in the discipline, in the training of the Lord. This means training them up in a way and in a direction that pleases the Lord. You know when you're doing any study on this subject, parenting, inevitably you will run across the example of Susannah Wesley. Throughout the years I've always heard of Susannah Wesley. I've read about her a little bit in John Wesley's journals. I had them. I haven't read them in years. But Susannah Wesley was the mother of John and Charles Wesley, and she raised 17 children. Yes, 17 children.

And she had this to say about raising children. I'm tired. I got tired just reading 17 children. On a serious note, notice what she said. I'm quoting, "The parent who studies to subdue self-will in his child works together with God in the renewing and the saving of the soul. The parent who indulges it, that is self-will, does the devil's work, makes religion impractical and salvation unattainable." Now my question for you dads is this. Are you working together with God? That's what this is all about. Are you working together with God in disciplining your children in the Lord? Or are you indulging the self-will of your children?

If you do, you're hindering greatly your child's ability to come to the Lord. Look, you are not supposed to be a roadblock. You are supposed to be the number one conduit to lead them to the Lord. And if you're not disciplining them in the Lord, you cannot. But then second, in the instruction of the Lord. Now this word instruction simply means a putting in the mind. And this speaks of the kind of instruction that we see all in the book of Proverbs, which is not primarily about information. Proverbs is mostly about the right attitudes and principles that guide our behavior.

Albert Barnes says that by this instructions, fathers are to, and I'm quoting, "Put them," that would be the children, "in the mind of the Lord." Let that sink in to put them in the mind of the Lord of his existence, of his perfections, of his law, and claims on their hearts and lives. So look at this positive command. Paul says to fathers, "Bring them up. Bring your children up in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord." The way the Puritan says you should raise your children? No. The way John MacArthur says you should raise your children. The way Vody Balkham says you should raise your children.

The way your pastor says you should raise your children? No. They might say some good things, but they may not. God uses Paul to command Christian fathers and mothers to nurture and to nourish their children in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord. That's the scripture. No less and no more. And if you take away from God what God's Word says here, you're in sin. And if you add to what God's Word says here, you're in sin. Now parents, moms, and dads, make sure you are bringing up your children in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord and not your rules and your religion.

Look, listen, Christ Jesus in your life personally, God's Word anointed by the Spirit of God in the home and in your life, the presence of God in your home and in your marriage, and look, dads, God working in your life. That is what is needed. And harsh man-made rules, rigid religious expectations are not of the Lord. Just like no discipline and no instruction, that's not of the Lord either. Now as I close, remember that we are being tested here. You might say, "Pastor, here we go with those tests." Yes. All this teaching in the home and about the home life is testing us, is testing us. First, the Abraham test.

You are making a choice to be a man of God, to be a woman of God. You are determining who you will be here. You are determining to be a true and an obedient Christian. All of these things are not. And the second test, the trust and obey test. You are either trusting and obeying the Scriptures here or you are not. You are trusting and obeying the authority of the Scriptures over you or you are not. And if you fail these tests, you blow it. So the responsibilities of parents, fathers and mothers, two children. So let's pray.

Let's commit these things to the Lord and let's worship our great God by being obedient here to the best of our ability and then with his ability.