0:02 So, we want to continue our study of a Christ-like home. We saw in our first session Christ-like husbands and wives, and we want to look 0:19 now at Christ-like parents and children. As I said, in the Old Testament, um there was not much spoken about husband-wife relationship, 0:37 except a few verses in Proverbs to wives. But concerning children, there are a few things mentioned in the Old Covenant, too. And much more in the New Covenant. I think children help us 0:58 to know whether our Christian religion and faith is genuine or whether we are hypocrites. Because we can guard ourselves 1:16 from losing our testimony before other people in the church. But it's almost impossible to guard yourself from your children, because they see you 24 hours. And they know everything. 1:39 Those who live in your home know everything about your relationship as husband and wife. And that's why the Bible speaks so much about in the New Testament about uh the way you bring up your children. 1:58 I mean, if you brought up your children well, it's an important qualification for being a leader in God's house. Let me show you that verse. 1 Timothy 3 Here is a condition for 2:16 being an elder in a church. Now, most of you may never be elders in a church, but you need to understand the principle of spiritual responsibility. And that is 1 2:32 Timothy 3 and overseer, verse 2, must be above reproach. Husband of one wife is First thing mentioned is is relationship with his wife. And then it says in verse 4, he must be one who manages 2:52 his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity. Because if a man does not know how to manage his own household or family, 3:10 how can he take care of the church of God? So, the church of God is a higher responsibility than family. And if you can't bring up three or four children in the fear of God, how in the world are you going to take care of 3:26 200 people in a church? Now, here is another just like husband-wife relationships in Christendom have many cases have ended up in divorce. The children also, unfortunately, most Christian workers, their children 3:44 are wayward. It's almost become legendary that children of full-time workers and preachers are wayward. And what is the reason? I personally believe there can be only one reason. That they don't practice at home, but they 4:04 preach in the church. They can preach fantastic things in the church, but their children see it's all hypocrisy. Dad and mom don't live according to what they speak in the church. Then they go astray because the example of their life speaks louder 4:24 than the words that they speak. And in Titus also we find con- requirements for an elder. And there it's 4:41 even more strongly said. Titus chapter one Elders must be An elder must be verse six Titus 1:6 A man above reproach. 4:59 The husband of one wife and children who are believers. See, this is even more than what you read in Timothy of children who are kept under control. How can a man be held responsible for his children being believers or 5:19 unbelievers? I mean, if this is completely out of his control there can't be such a condition. See, there are certain things outside our control. We can't be responsible for it. Do you understand that? Supposing there was a condition saying 5:38 an elder should not be bald. What can he do about it? That's not something he has a control over. Do you believe he has a control over children being believers? Is it something he has no control over like baldness or 5:56 height height of a must be above so much height. Those things he has no control over. The Bible is not unreasonable. He doesn't give us conditions which we have no control over. So when it says an elder must have children who are 6:11 believers, that means it's something which a man has control over. Now the reason I say that is even if you are never become an elder in your life, remember that whether your children grow up to be believers or not is dependent on you. 6:31 Don't ever push that responsibility on somebody else and say uh the devil did this or they're being influenced by my parents or they go to the grandfather's house and get led astray. These are all silly excuses. Our children are different. 6:49 These are all excuses to justify ourselves. The Lord told the Pharisees, you fellows are experts at justifying yourself. It's a mark of a Pharisee. It's much better to say what the Bible says in Romans 3, let God be true 7:05 and every man a liar. So I believe that God's word is true. Even in the Old Testament, it says in Proverbs and chapter 22 and 7:24 verse six, train up a child in the way he should go and when he's old, he will not depart from it. He may not depart from it. 7:47 Or he will not depart from it. I believe that's inspired. He will not depart from it. I mean, they may have their ups and downs. Some children have a few struggles in their teenage years, in their early 20s. That's because they have It's like 8:06 they're in transition between being a child and an adult. And they make the mistake in their teenage years of thinking that they're adults. And the parents make the mistake in their teenage years of thinking that their children are still babies. 8:23 So, both are wrong. And that's why sometimes they go through an up and down. Some people have a smooth passage through their teenage years, but as they grow older, if they're really been trained, they will not depart from that way which 8:42 has been instilled into them. And one of the great examples for us parents is Moses' mother, who had Moses as a little baby with her 9:02 for a much shorter time than you and I have our children. You know, Pharaoh's daughter picked up that baby from the bulrushes and gave it to the mother saying, "Train him up, and when he's old enough, 9:21 bring him to our house, to the palace." I don't know how many years she had Moses at home. Let's say 7 years. But what a work she did in those 7 years that when Moses was old, when he was 40 9:40 years old, he did not depart from those values that his mother had put into his head before he was 7. How many of us believe that we can put values into our children's heart hearts and heads before they are 7 years 9:58 old? We got to start soon as they begin to understand, which is even before they are 1 year old. They understand. It says about Moses in Hebrews and chapter 11. 10:20 Now, remember, if an old covenant mother could do such a fantastic job, how much more we? Remember what I said in the earlier session, we got to be filled with the Holy Spirit to be a Christ-like husband, Christ-like wife, Christ-like parent, 10:38 or a Christ-like child. Hebrews 11, it says the faith of Moses' parents is mentioned here in verse 24 or 23. By faith, Moses' parents, this is the faith of Moses' parents, hid him 10:56 for 3 months. They were not afraid of the king's edict. King had said all the little baby boys should be killed. They were not afraid. They would not kill a baby even if there's a law in the country saying 11:15 you must abort your child. God-fearing parents will say, "Sorry, we're not going to do it." Cuz that's murder. So, they didn't kill that child. And when Moses grew up, notice the three 11:33 that he refused. We know that that happened when he was 40 years old. He said, "I'm not the son of Pharaoh's daughter." Now, see, everybody thought he was the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and if he had kept quiet about it, 11:48 he would have been a pharaoh. Pharaoh means the most powerful ruler in the whole world at that time, because Egypt was the biggest superpower, the only superpower. And he could have been the head of the world's greatest nation. 12:05 I He just turned it down. He says, "No. I'm not the son of Pharaoh's daughter. I don't want that honor." He refused the honor of the world. Second, verse 25, he rejected the passing pleasure of sin. He lived in a palace, which was the most 12:23 wicked, corrupt, immoral place in the whole world, and he saw what all was happening, a lot of pleasure in sin. He was a young man as he grew up. He rejected the pleasure of sin because he knew it was passing. He says, "I know there's a pleasure in 12:37 sin, but it'll pass. I don't want it." Third, he rejected the treasures of Egypt, verse 26. So, the three things that Moses rejected when he grew up. One, the honor of this world, the pleasure of this world, and the wealth of this 12:52 world, saying, "I don't want it." Now, here was a man who had the opportunity to get it. Most of us don't have the opportunity to get all these three, and to say that we don't take it is not a great thing. But here was a man who 13:04 had the opportunity to get all these three and said, "No." Where did he learn it? Did Pharaoh's daughter teach him that? Did anybody in the palace teach him that? No. That was the early 7 years of training which he got from 13:20 his mother. Why do I say his mother? Because his father was a slave, and I presume the slaves went off to work at 6:00. And come back late. I mean, our computer scientist slaves usually nowadays go at 7:00 in the morning and come back at 13:34 7:00 in the evening. It's something like that. Those days much worse. The slaves in Egypt, they went off to work maybe early morning, came back late in the evening. And um probably saw very little of Moses. There, the mother had this little boy at 13:49 home and drilled into cuz he knew she knew I've got him only for 7 years. She drilled into his head, "Remember you are an Israelite. We are descended from Abraham who contacted God. We are the chosen people of God. 14:07 Don't ever forget that." Drilled it drilled it into head for 7 years. He never forgot it. Even when he lived there. So, he stood up and said, "I'm not an Egyptian. I'm not a son of Pharaoh's daughter." And drilled into his head another thing, 14:21 "Don't despise the fact that we are poor. We're living in a hut. We're slaves, but wealth is not everything. We've got God. Wealth is not the big thing. Don't live for money." Imagine drilling that into a child's head when he's 7 years old. 14:37 And the child get absorbs it absorbs it. Money is not everything. It doesn't matter if you're living in a small hut. Dad's a slave. He doesn't have much money. He I can't get you all the toys I can other rich people can get their 14:49 children. We are poor, but we're not ashamed of it. Because money is not everything. What wonderful values to put into our children's heads before they are 7 years old. And then when they are 7 years old, they don't know much about sin. 15:08 But she must have taught him sin is dishonoring to God. Fighting with your sister is wrong. Telling lies is wrong. Little little sins. You mustn't hurt anybody. You mustn't Those values got into it. And as you grow up, Moses, 15:22 there'll be other pleasures of sin. Avoid them. Avoid them. You're one of God's people. Train up a child and when he's when he's young and when he's old, he will not depart from it. Classic example. And it was done by a mother 15:39 single-handedly because I don't know how much time the father had at home. Um another example is Timothy. His mother We read in 2 Timothy in chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1 16:00 Paul says in verse 5, 2 Timothy 1:5, "I'm mindful of the sincere faith within you." Where did he get it from? Where did Timothy get this sincere faith? He says it was first in your mother, in 16:18 your grandmother, Lois, and your mother, Eunice. So, the grandmother had the sincere faith and she drilled it into her little girl, Eunice's head. Faith. God can take it. God can solve 16:38 every problem. There's no trial that God cannot see us through. And Eunice must have seen in her mother, Lois, how in difficult situation she would pray and trust God and say, "Don't worry. There are problems, but God will solve 16:54 it." And she would see the problem solved. In their home, she grew up seeing a mother who would pray whenever there's a problem and not complain and grumble and backbite and gossip with the neighbors, but would pray and seek God. And that 17:06 little girl grew up with faith in her heart. And she grew up. I have a feeling that Eunice when she grew up for a period she backslid. That can happen. But she came back. 17:26 The reason I say that is because she didn't marry a Jew. She married a Greek. And you read there in Acts chapter 16. Um That there was this man called Timothy, 17:47 verse 1. Young man, Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. How did this Jewish woman go and marry a Greek? There was a law which says you must not marry non-Jewish people. She must have backslidden. 18:07 And then she married this Greek who was probably only interested in making money. Unbeliever. So, you know, Paul doesn't tell Timothy, "This sincere faith which was in your father." Father never had faith. It was the mother. It's a great 18:22 encouragement to um mothers, your husbands take no interest in bringing up your children. Here's an example, Moses' mother, Timothy's mother. She I think she once once she got a child, a lot of backslidden women 18:42 marry outside the will of God, but when they get a child, they repent. They say, "Boy, okay, I made a blunder in my life, but I'm going to make up for that by bringing up this child in the fear of God." 18:59 And so she would have spent all her time Okay, I'm going to make up for where I slipped up by bringing up my child. Father was busy with his making money and his business. But the Timothy, his mother spent time with him, time with him. 19:19 Many great men of God have become that through the influence of their mothers. Who prayed for them and instructed them. John Wesley had a very God-fearing mother who had who gave birth to about 19 children, of 19:37 which seven or eight died. This is in the 1700s. But even though she had about, I don't know, 10 or 11 children, she and her husband was not much interested. Even though he was a preacher, clergyman, he was not much interested, 19:53 but she is a God-fearing woman, was very strict with her children, would never allow her children to speak unkindly even to the servants. And instructed them, she would spend 1 hour every week 20:11 with each child alone. Imagine having 11 children and spending 1 hour every week with each child alone, instructing them in the things of God. And John Wesley grew up, he he never had any children. But he started the Methodist Church, 20:28 which was a very powerful the most powerful movement in the world in the 1700s. I mean, it's very different today. And when he wanted to instruct parents in his churches, he got his mother to write the instructions. So you tell these people how to bring up 20:46 children. He had so much respect for the way his mother brought him up. That was Timothy's mother was like that, too. I mean, she couldn't she was a backslider, but she raised an apostle. Timothy became an apostle. And a young when he was 18 year 19 years 21:02 old, Paul looked at him and said, "I want this man on my team." Imagine if the Apostle Paul had looked at some 18-year-old boy here and said, "I want that person on my team." Boy, that would be tremendous honor. I would consider tremendous honor if 21:20 I was 18 years old and Paul picked me up for his team or Paul picked up one of my children for his team and they were 18 years old. That indicated what a job the mother had done with Timothy during that time that she raised someone who 21:36 became an apostle, God-fearing young man. In spite of the fact that she had to do it single-handedly, Moses' mother did it single-handedly. So, all these things teach us train up a child in the way he should go, take time, effort. That means if 21:51 Moses' mother and Timothy's mother had to spend so much time with their children and um John Wesley's mother had to spend so much time children, I'll tell you one thing, they didn't have time to go visiting all their neighbors and 22:03 gossiping and chit-chatting about everything that is going on under the sun, like a lot of sisters do. They didn't have time to waste with useless things. They concentrated on their children and determined that they would bring up 22:18 their children in the fear of God. And see the rewards. Timothy went on probably to bring hundreds of others to Christ. One one woman's labor. And when Timothy gets his reward, I'm sure God's going to call his mother and 22:32 his grandmother and say, "Hey, each of you got to get your reward for the way you brought him up." So, these are great examples of um men who've been brought up. And so, what does it mean for us to be a Christ-like parent? 22:50 The Bible says in Ephesians um fathers, the responsibility is primarily on fathers, chapter 6, verse 4, "Don't provoke your children to anger. But bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. There are two 23:07 things, discipline and instruction. Both we must do, not just discipline. There are a lot of fathers even in the world who discipline and mothers ready to whack their child. Well, that's no use if you don't give instruction. 23:23 Discipline plus instruction, it's like two legs. Don't stand on one leg and bring up your children. Stand on both legs, discipline plus instruction of the Lord. And the primary responsibility is the father's. And if you're a born-again father, 23:41 it's your responsibility to bring up your It doesn't say mothers, it says fathers. If you're a useless father, then let the mother do the job. That's fine. But acknowledge every day before God, I'm a useless father. You better say that. 23:58 I'm a useless father, so I'm letting my wife do the job. But it's your job to bring up your children, not your wife's. She's not the one supposed to instruct the children and she's not the one supposed to discipline the children. 24:12 It's your job. I'm not saying the mother does not discipline the children, but the primary responsibility is the father's. It's so clear here. Why doesn't it say parents? Why does it say fathers? Is it a slip of the Paul's pen? No. 24:28 Cuz even in Colossians where it speaks about parents and children, it says in Colossians 3:21, "Fathers." So, that's definite. It's primary responsibility of the fathers. But if you're a useless father like Timothy's father, then the mother's got 24:46 to do the job. Or if the father is away at work the whole day, then the mother's got to do the job. So, anyway, the responsibility is on parents to bring up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. 25:04 So, what does that mean? Let me turn you to Psalm 90. This is a Psalm that Moses wrote. Now, we know that Moses was a bit of a failure as a father. You read in Exodus chapter 4 that he had not circumcised his own child. 25:24 Perhaps I should show you that. The reason I say that is because Psalm 90 was written by Moses. So, let's look at his history a little bit. Exodus chapter 4, you read about Moses that he was selected by God to go to Egypt to be the leader. 25:41 And on his way, we read on the way they stopped at a lodging place on the way to Egypt. Exodus 4:24. And while Moses was there, it says the Lord met him and tried to put him to death. What do you mean tried to put him to 25:59 death? I mean God could kill a man any moment. I don't know what happened. Maybe Moses got seriously sick with a high fever on his way to Moses on his way to Egypt to deliver the Israelites. He gets this high fever and he's about to die. 26:15 And his wife wife was not a Jewish person. Wife was a Gentile. The daughter of some heathen priest. And they began to seek God and it became clear to both of them it is because you have not circumcised your son. 26:35 How in the world are you going to let lead Israel to obey God's commandments and you haven't done it in your own home? And Zipporah, his wife, realized it. Verse 23, took a flint and cut off her skin's foreskin son's foreskin 26:49 and threw it at Moses' feet and said, "You're indeed a bridegroom of blood." That means they had argued about it many times. And for the sake of peace in the house, Moses said, "Okay, we'll disobey God. Honey, 27:08 do it your way." Just like Adam, for the sake of peace in his home, he told Eve, "Okay, honey, if you insist, I'll disobey God. I'll eat Give me the apple. Uh give me the fruit, rather. Well, that's what Moses did. 27:26 God said, "You're going to lead people and you can't even be the head in your own home?" I I tell you I have to say that to many so-called Christian husbands in our churches. I say, "You men should put a veil on your head 27:44 and sit in the meeting because you're not the head in your home. You let your wife run the show. Then why are you sitting here with an uncovered head? Put a veil on your head and cover it and say, 'I'm not the head in my home. My wife is the head in my 27:57 home.' God created man to be the head of his home. And he or he was disobeying in the case of his own children. So so serious that God wants to kill Moses and somebody went to the Lord and said, "Lord, but he's the only man available 28:17 now to lead your people. You took 80 years to train him. You'll take 80 years to get another man." He said, "I don't care. I'll take 100 years to train another man, but I'll kill this man if he doesn't obey me." You know how serious it is 28:31 not to bring up your children in the right way? I mean, this is the I'll tell you this is the reason why God's anointing has gone away from many of his servants who once had it, but lost it because they listened to their wives, 28:49 did what they told them, compromised God's standards in the house, and allowed the children to grow up worldly. Because the soft wife said, "Oh, don't don't hurt our child. Let him Let him have it." And so on. "Let our girl dress that way. Okay, 29:07 okay, it doesn't matter if he's a bit worldly and following the worldly fashion. It doesn't matter." And the father, who should be putting a veil on his head, "Okay, honey. Let our girl grow up like that." Isn't that tragic? Absolutely tragic. 29:22 Well, that's Moses. God almost tried to kill him. God is very strict with his servants. And in the new covenant, all of us are supposed to be God's servants. So, now we come to Psalm 90, the psalm which Moses wrote, and see what he says there. 29:39 Psalm 90 is the only psalm that Moses wrote. He says, "Lord, verse 16, the Psalm 90 verse 16, let your majesty Let your work appear to your servants and your majesty to their children. Lord, we want 29:59 our children to see your majesty. And for them to see your majesty, verse 17, let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us." So, King James version translation is That is a correct translation. Let the beauty, like we sing, "Let the beauty of 30:17 Jesus be seen in me." We get it from this verse. Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, so that our children can see your majesty. And confirm the work of our hands. Yes, Lord, confirm the work of our hands. Our 30:36 children must see that God is with their daddy. God is with their mommy that they can see the majesty of the Lord, the beauty of the Lord in the lives of their parents. So, that is primary. So, what does it mean to be a 30:53 Christ-like mother and a Christ-like father? Remember when God made man, it says, uh listen to this verse, Genesis 1 and 28. No. Yeah, 27. 31:13 Genesis 1:27, God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created them male and female. So, there there's a part of God's image in a woman, which no matter how hard a man tries, he can't do it. 31:32 It's in the combination of man and woman that the full image of God can be seen. That's what it says there. In the image of God he created them male and female. And that's why he's made a woman a certain way and man a certain way that if they are 31:46 really joined together, they can manifest the full beauty of the glory of God. Glory of God full of grace and truth is to be seen in a husband and wife together, not alone. 32:04 They must see the beauty of Jesus in their parents right from early childhood. What is the glory of God? The glory of God, we read in John 1:14, was seen in Jesus Christ 32:21 full of grace and truth. There's a balance there. It's not all grace, it's not all truth. It's truth plus grace. It's like bones plus flesh. Bones are solid things, unbendable, 32:41 firm, no flexibility. That's truth. Sorry, I'm not going to compromise on that. We're not going to allow that in this house. That's against God's word. We don't permit it in this house. Those are the bones. But that bones must be covered over with 33:00 flesh. With grace. That's the glory of God. If your children see only bones, don't blame them for running away from you. Cuz you yourself will run away from a skeleton. If you see a skeleton walking up to you in the middle of the night, 33:17 what do you do? You'll run. And if you fathers and mothers are like skeletons to your children, only bones, firm, firm, firm, don't blame them if they run. The skeleton is to be covered over with flesh. There's a lot of difference in a 33:36 skeleton kissing a child and a person with flesh kissing a child. Hard, skeleton. Even the kiss of a skeleton is hard. But it's covered with flesh. There's grace and truth. That's the glory. That's the balance. There is the beauty 33:51 of God. And that's the beauty. He says, "Let's let it be seen in me." And there, when husband and wife are together, it's wonderful because one may have a little more of truth, one may have a little more of grace, but when 34:03 both together, the glory is seen. See uh Romans chapter 11. This is what our children must see in us. As Christ-like parents, this is what we have to manifest to our children. Romans chapter 11 34:21 and verse 22. Behold. Now, whenever you read the word behold, it means look carefully. Don't just quickly glance. Look carefully at the kindness 34:39 and the severity of God. That is grace and truth. See how kind God is. And see how strict he is. That is the balance. Kindness plus strictness that our children 34:56 must see in us as parents. And you know, if one is overly strict then the other is overly kind and there's a balance. But one should not prevent the other from fulfilling that part of God, you 35:16 know, there must be a balance of grace and truth, of kindness and strictness. So that for example, if a father is going to punish a child for something he deserves punishment for the mother should not in a false sense of compassion say, "No, no, no, 35:33 no, don't do it." And the child suddenly gets the idea that father and mother are actually not agreed on this and they'll play one against the other. That's not the time. I mean, if you feel that your husband is punished your child too hard 35:47 you need to talk to him because you're his helper. But talk to him afterwards, after the punishment is over. I mean, your child is not going to die because he got one wrong punishment. Afterwards, you can when in when your 35:59 children not listening, you can talk to your husband and say "You know, I think that was a bit too strict because whatever reason." That's how the balance comes. If a husband and wife can talk together, but never give that 36:14 impression to your children that you're divided. It's very important. There's a beauty in the blending of grace and truth in kindness and strictness that must be your children must They see that you love them, you're willing to 36:27 sacrifice anything for them. You're kind towards them. I mean, they can even see it in little things like this. Our children used to see that in our home when we couldn't afford a lot of good food, they would see that we would give them 36:41 all the good food and eat very simple food ourselves as father and mother. That is a very simple way in which you can show your children that if you don't have enough money to get good food for everyone, you give it to them first and give them the best part 36:54 of the food and eat nothing or what's left over. What I mean is if there are sweet things that you can't afford to get for everybody, just give it to them. And they see that you deny yourself, there's a kindness there. And then 37:07 at other times there's a strictness. I'll tell you one of the greatest joys of my own life has been this, now that I'm 71, that all four of my boys have told me, "Dad, you are a hero. 37:26 And we want to bring up our children the way you brought us up." If you can hear that from your children one day, I wish you will. I don't mean they're just flattering you, but they really mean it. You're a lucky parent, you've done a job good job. 37:45 If you brought them up in the fear of God, it's very, very important. I mean, it was so important for me in my younger days when I was a young father, that I'll tell you, I don't like to make myself an example, but I'm not perfect, 38:00 I'm not I told my children I was not a perfect father. I'm an honest father. I made mistakes, I made lots of mistakes, but I would always acknowledge them. I was an honest father. But I only say this to say that it has worked. It's only to say that. 38:16 It's like saying, "I did a chemistry experiment and it worked." So, I'm only saying it in that for the glory of God. That there were many things I would cancel my own program so that I could be with my children. It was important. 38:34 If they had some function that was important for them in which they were taking part, whether it was a school drama or a sport or some activity, I would try my best, if at all possible, to adjust my program so that I could be there for that. 38:52 It would mean a certain amount of uh giving up certain other things, but I'd be there to show my children that I'm interested in what you're doing. I want to ask you, do your children feel that you're interested in something 39:05 they're doing? Even if you have no interest in them. But for the sake of your children, you take an interest. Yeah. Uh if they're interested in it, and I know my wife is a greater expert at this than me. Um 39:24 she'd sit and watch American football with these children. She doesn't have the slightest interest in it, but God knows understand one bit of it. She knows a bit now, but just for the sake of fellowship with the children. 39:37 Boy, I like that, and that's brought them very close to her, you know. And I want to encourage you, sometimes you have to deny yourself and sit and do something which is not evil, but something innocent which you don't have 39:49 any interest in, perhaps, for the sake of fellowship with your children. Play a game with them which you have no interest in, perhaps. But you want to fellowship with them. This is a day when there's the devil's trying to separate parents from 40:01 children. And don't try and be super spiritual. Try and fellowship with the children in the ordinary things of life. In little little things, take an interest in their homework. When I visit different homes sometimes, I mean, now I don't get much time to 40:18 visit many homes because I'm traveling so much. But, when I was here much more frequently, and uh I was an elder in this church once for a number of years, and I used to visit some homes, I would call the little children and 40:32 talk to them. I love to talk to little children. I'd call them and ask them about their homework, what subject they were studying, and ask them to say, "Bring me your geography book, or bring me your mathematics book." And uh you know, small classes, things 40:46 which I also know. And I would ask them some question and talk to them and uh maybe teach them some simple way of doing something, and become friendly with them by talking not about Hebrews and James and all that, but about geography and mathematics, 41:02 things they are interested in. And I become their friends thereby. And the result is, when I stand up here to speak in the pulpit, they'll sit here and listen to me. Because they know I'm their friend. You must become friends with little 41:19 children. Jesus was great lover of little children. And you're not like Jesus if you don't love children, I'll tell you that. No matter, you can think you're very holy, but if you don't love little children, you are not like Jesus. Not only your 41:32 children, anybody's children. See, it says in Malachi chapter 4, Malachi chapter 4, the last verse, it says in the last two 41:51 verses, Elijah is going to come before the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to the children, the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I don't come and smite the land with a 42:03 curse. The last word The last word in the Old Testament is curse. That's how the Old Testament ends. And then you come into the New Testament with grace. And that curse is on the land because fathers don't have time for their 42:23 children. These are the days we're living in. Fathers are too busy. I was reading somewhere um the diary of a young 20-year-old boy 42:42 who died in a car crash. And his parents were active members in a church they were going to. And after they never knew that he was writing a little diary. After his death they opened this 43:01 diary. And they found entries, you know, something about geography and other things there. And then today I went to dad and asked him something and dad said, "Don't disturb me now. I've got something very important to do." 43:20 And he says, "What a home this is. I'm so lonely. Even my dad doesn't have time for me." And then another few days later another entry, "I went to my mom for something. She said, 'No, I've got to go for a prayer meeting. I don't have time now.' 43:35 And I sit here all alone." And then he says uh I went to church and after the church I spoke to the pastor at the door and said, "You know, I was really encouraged by something I you spoke today. Can I talk to you?" He said, "No, 43:51 I have no time now." He says, "I'm all alone. It's all useless." And he died. Don't wake up one day to read such things in your child's diary. Sometimes the things that 44:10 don't interest you interest them. I read another story of a man whose you know, I don't know whether his child died or grew up and went away, but he was an old man and he he was wealthy businessman 44:29 and one day he was looking through old books and all lying around and he saw his his son is not at home now. His little his son's diary which the boy had written when he was 10 years old. This is somewhere in the United States. 44:47 And he also used the father also used to keep a diary. And he saw what he he compared what he wrote in his diary on that day with his what his son wrote in his diary on that date. What he wrote in his diary, the father wrote in 45:04 his diary was "Went for fishing with my son. Spent the whole day catching nothing. Absolute waste of time." The son's diary was "Went for fishing with my dad. Never caught a fish, but it is a 45:23 wonderful time with my father. Never enjoyed a day so much as this." You see the different perspectives? The question is not whether you catch fish or not. The question is spending time with your children. You have them for such a short time. I 45:41 tell you this, we had our children only for 18 years at home. And boy we're thankful for the little that we could do. But we miss we miss them tremendously when they went. Many of you have your children with you for longer than that. 46:01 Take advantage of that time. One day they'll go and you'll see them very rarely. And they'll have other responsibilities. And before they go, make sure you have put into them values that will influence them. Not only them, 46:18 but which will influence the next generation for Christ. Is it enough that you are a witness for Christ? Don't you want your next generation to grow up to be witnesses for Christ? I had this tremendous passion. That's what my wife and I used to pray for our 46:35 children all the time. Lord, fill them with the Holy Spirit. Make them your witnesses. I don't care what job they have, but make them your witnesses. Make them your witnesses. Fill them with the Holy Spirit. We pray for them even now. 46:50 Dear brothers and sisters, let me urge you. Pray for your children every day that God will fill them with the Holy Spirit from childhood. I've started praying for my grandchildren now. That God will fill them with the spirit 47:04 and give them I always look for a promise in scripture. When our children were small, God gave my wife and me this promise. And you can claim it because it's in scripture. It's for you, too, if you can claim it. Isaiah 54 47:19 and verse 13. The Lord says, "All your sons will be discipled." That's the meaning. "Will be discipled by the Lord. 47:37 And the well-being of your sons will be great." This is when our kids were small. I said, "Lord, we claim it." It's interesting that God gave it to my wife and to me separately. And say, "Oh, well, then that must be from the Lord." 47:53 We claim it. You know, you don't find these promises if you don't read the scriptures. If people are lazy to read the scriptures. There are checks, huge checks with a lot of money, spiritual money, in the in this book. You got to read it to find these checks 48:07 and cash them in the bank of heaven. All your children, not one or two, all your sons will be discipled by the Lord. And the well-being of your sons will be great. Lord, that's your word. All the promises of God are yes in Jesus Christ. We put 48:25 our amen to it. We sign at the back of the check, cash it in the bank of heaven. It's for us. And now that I've got grandchildren, this is the promise I claim. Isaiah 59 verse 21. As for me, 48:47 this is my covenant with them, says the Lord. My spirit, which is upon you, and my words, which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your children, nor from the mouth of your children's 49:03 children, says the Lord from now and forever. Now, that may take a long time to be fulfilled. But once upon a time it took a long time for Isaiah 54:13 to be fulfilled with our little boys. Now, it may take 20 years. That's fine. 49:19 If the Lord tarries, and if you're alive, we'll keep praying for 20 years. Lord, fulfill your word. What I'm trying to do is these promises are there for everyone. It's not just for me, my name's not there. Why don't you go to scripture, 49:35 husband and wife, and say, "Lord, what is the greatest thing we can do for our children?" Just feed them, clothe them, educate them? No, bring them up in the fear of God so that in their generation, they will be bold witnesses for Christ. They 49:47 may not be preachers, that's not the point. To be a witness for Christ. I've never prayed that God will give my gift to my children or to anybody else. God needs only one Zac Poonen in his church. God needs only one of each of us. 50:00 But my prayer is that they'll be witnesses, spirit-filled witnesses in their generation. And for that, they must see the beauty of Jesus in us. God is a father and a mother. 50:18 And they must see, as I said, the strictness and kindness of God in us. And as a mother, the care that a mother has. See, I want to show you a verse in Isaiah chapter 66. See what God says. 50:37 Isaiah 66. As one who verse 13, Isaiah 66:13, "As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you, and you will be comforted," says the Lord. A mother is there to comfort and 50:57 encourage her children. But what if the mother is most of the time working in an office and the children come to come home from school to an empty home or mother is busy with other things. She doesn't have time to comfort her 51:14 children cuz she's busy earning money. She's busy socializing, etc. Sad. That is another of the evils of today's world. My wife and I took a decision when our first son was born. 51:33 My wife was working right until the day our first son was born. And you know, she was a doctor and she could have earned many lakhs of rupees, millions of rupees in these 40 years. But we decided when our first son was born, even though 51:50 we had very little, she's going to be a mother. None of our children are going to grow up as orphans with me gone off to work for the serving the Lord somewhere and mom gone off to earn money as a doctor and the children growing up as orphans 52:08 brought up by some ayah or nanny or somebody else or grandmother or aunt or something. I said no. We'll bring up our children in a hut, but we will give them our time. And so my wife never went to work. 52:27 Do we regret it? Of course we couldn't get all the fancy things for our children that working mothers could get for their children, but we never wanted those fancy things. We wanted them to have a good life, not fancy clothes and fancy toys and 52:41 fancy gadgets which working mothers can get for their children. No, we were not interested in those things. We wanted them to have time with their mommy. And so every day when the children came back from school, mommy was there. 52:59 I wasn't there. Many times I was not there. Sometimes I'd be gone for 6 weeks ministering somewhere or the other. And but she was there every day. She would never travel with me till my last son left home. Did she want to travel? Of course she'd 53:18 love to travel, but she didn't cuz she wanted to be at home with the children. Every day the children would come back from school, she would talk to them, and they became very close. Would pray for them. And when they went off to college, 53:34 one of their roommates told me, "Uh you know, Mr. Punan, your son said that it is the prayers of my mother that have kept me. Not the prayers of the father, by the way. The prayers of my mother have kept me. And it's true. 53:55 So, what I want to say is if you are struggling for survival and you cannot make ends meet, God will understand if a woman has to go to work. But if it is merely to raise your 54:13 standard of living, God sees that also. We could have said, "You know, we were so poor, we didn't even have money to rent a house." That's how we started. We could have said, "At least we should rent a house. Let my wife go to work." 54:29 But we said, "No, that's not more important. Renting a house is not more important. Bringing up our children is more important." It's all a question of values. And I'll tell you something, all the wealth you give your children 54:45 is not going to help them to be godly. Children of rich parents are some of the most spoiled children on the face of the earth. It's better to teach them to uh learn to live with less and not that they can get whatever they 55:04 want. You give your children whatever you whatever they want and just because that person's child does We used to tell our children, "Sorry, we cannot afford to get you what that other boy in school has and that other boy in 55:17 school has. No, we can't. We can't afford to give you money to go out at lunchtime and go and buy a lunch somewhere. You're just going to take this packed lunch that Mommy makes up for you in the morning. I know it's going to be a bit cold, but that's it." 55:34 I don't regret it. It's good that our children learn that they can't get everything they want. To give them values, particularly in the area of money. Dear brothers, sisters, be disciplined. And I want to show you something 55:52 for about the Lord said about Abraham in Genesis chapter 18. Genesis 18. Verse 17. Please remember this verse. 56:13 God says, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I'm going to do?" What a wonderful thing for God to say that. Abraham is my friend. I'm not going to hide from him what I'm going to do. Because he will become a great and mighty 56:33 nation. Verse 19. I have chosen Abraham for what purpose? Not to start the nation of Israel as we think. I have chosen Abraham so that he can command his children and his family after him to keep the way of the Lord by 56:52 doing righteousness and justice. Command is a military word. Right turn. Left turn. Quick march. He will command his children. Not say, "Will you please do this?" No. He would command his children. Tell them, "You got to do it. 57:14 I'm your dad." And his family to keep the way of the Lord. And then, only then, the Lord will be able to bring upon Abraham what he has spoken about him. It's an amazing verse, Matthew 18 Genesis 18:19. 57:32 So you see, and the proof of that is when Abraham was an old 125-year-old man, went up to the top of Mount Moriah, and here is the young strapping 25-year-old Isaac, muscular young man, and his old father says, "Lie down on that altar. I'm going to 57:49 kill you now." What does this 25-year-old muscular young man do? He meekly climbs on the altar, allows his father to tie him up, and the the father's taking the knife to kill him. That is the greatest proof 58:09 of the way Abraham brought up his son, in obedience. That's why God could bring upon him. I'll give you another unfortunate example, 1 Samuel. Samuel was a wonderful man. He saw the bad 58:27 example of Eli, who was before him. Eli's children were all wayward. And God used Samuel to warn Eli, "I'm going to punish you because your children are wayward." What happened to Samuel's own children? 1 Samuel chapter 8. 58:48 When Samuel was old, he appointed his sons to be judges. He was the judge. And even though he saw that his children were not God-fearing, he made them judges. You know how sometimes even elder brothers can be partial towards their own children, 59:08 even though they know they're not God-fearing? Wonderful man like Samuel did it. Anybody can do it. It's partiality. It's one of the last sins that many Christians get rid of, particularly towards their family members. They 59:24 become lenient, partial. Samuel appointed his own sons as judges. And then and they were judging his sons verse three did not walk in his ways. They took bribes and perverted justice. Can you imagine 59:42 taking bribes and favoring the fellow who gave him a bribe and punishing the innocent person? Samuel's sons, what is the reason? Because verse chapter seven previous verse chapter seven verse 16 15. Samuel judged Israel all the days of 1:00:01 his life. He used to go annually on a circuit. He used to travel from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah and he judged all over the places. Then he would come back to Ramah where his house was and then he would travel all the time. He had no 1:00:11 time to bring up his children cuz he was serving the Lord. He was serving the Lord. He The need was so great. He needed He was needed here. Uh brother, can you come here? Samuel, can you come here? He went all over the place. End 1:00:22 result was his children grew up wayward. Was it worth it? And he had learned from what happened in a previous generation to Eli. These things are written in scripture to warn us. Let's be careful 1:00:46 to take the good examples and the bad examples and say, "Lord, let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me." I want to say something to encourage you at the end. If any man lack wisdom, let him ask God. That is the greatest need we have with 1:01:05 our children, wisdom. James 1:5 says, "If you lack wisdom, ask God. He will give you liberally if you ask him in faith." Lord, I want wisdom to bring up my children, to instruct them in the ways of the Lord. Teach them the truth the stories in 1:01:21 scripture and teach them the principles of God's word. Why we don't tell lies. Why we don't watch all these movies and why we are different from other people. Why my little girl, why I don't allow you to dress like all these worldly 1:01:38 girls. I'll tell you because we are different. We don't follow these worldly models and cinema stars. Let the worldly Christians do that, but I'm not going to bring you up my little girl that way. No. You're going to listen to me. You may 1:01:51 not understand it now, but that's you'll understand it later on. And then you'll bring up a girl who'll marry a God-fearing man one day and not just not just fall in love with somebody whom she sees and get married off to some unbeliever or something. 1:02:06 Bring up your children in the ways of the Lord and teach them right from childhood the ways of the Lord and later on in life you can reap the harvest of the seed you have sown. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, 1:02:31 we pray you'll give us grace in these difficult days to have wisdom, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to take our responsibility seriously, more seriously than we have ever taken it so far, to have a right sense of values as 1:02:48 what's important and what's not important for our children, to instruct them and bring them up in a way that will please you. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
