Is God First in Our Lives?

Well, hopefully you had a wonderful Pentecost as well. We heard some of the reports and seemed to go very well. We really appreciated the reports that I heard back for things going well in this direction as well. We come back to hot weather like it was in Trinidad. One thing's a little bit different, though. The humidity there was about, oh boy, I think about 95% humidity, so it was a little bit different. I thought for a minute there we were back in New Orleans for a second, because it was definitely humid down there. But that's, you know, island weather, which was really beautiful. Well, in recognition of our Sabbath school graduation and, of course, our high school graduates as well today, I thought it would help to talk a little bit about our families, recognizing the fact our families extend a lot bigger than just our immediate families, and especially the impact that society has on all of us. And it doesn't matter if you're here in the States or you're in some other areas of the world. We're certainly reminded that things that happened. We got down to Trinidad, and then we heard of the reports that came out of England for the terror attacks that went on there.

There is no doubt we are in a war with terrorism. And oftentimes we think of the bullets and the missiles and the bombs and those types of things as certainly a battleground that's taken place. But we were reminded how much there is a battle going on with our most precious commodity, and that's our children.

There is a war going on against our families, and the nature of this battle is one that's really devious, that's really underhanded. And the results can be just disastrous when you consider it. You think about this war that's going on against the family and against our children. It's one of those things that is destroying our nation, and the casualties are mounting.

The casualties of our integrity. Yeah, in the church, our integrity, our honesty, the respect that we hold for God and His creation. This war is going on, and it's one that our enemy wants to use to destroy us. And when you think about these beautiful children that were up here moments ago, and we think about the potential that God has given them, there's not a day that goes by that they're not bombarded with ideas or thoughts or images that would go against the way of God. And these little ones, they're faced with the obstacles and the challenges that perhaps you and I would never have dreamed of when we were their age.

And so we hear about these challenges that we are faced with.

Our world seems to think that humanity has the solution. Our humanistic points of view and its philosophy that's taught in our schools and in society around us has not just removed God from the curriculum, but God has been denied in our society.

And so there is no longer absolute truth.

What is truth, anyway? We consider popularity more important than truth. We pride ourselves in our country that we have the freedom to choose whatever we want, whatever we think is best, over the obligation to do as we should.

And so we see the tragedies. Because we limit God in our world, our children then are taught that, well, alternative lifestyles are just fine. They're acceptable. In fact, they're more than acceptable. Our world teaches they're encouraged, that we should celebrate these alternative lifestyle. You know, adultery, wow, that's nothing these days. That's absolutely nothing. And if you've got a reason to lie, well, that's okay. That's not a big deal.

And so those types of thoughts and that kind of thinking has infiltrated the church and it's infiltrated our families as well.

So how can we save our family? How can we save our family? How can our families in the church serve what God has purposed?

What does He intend for us? How can we be sure that that impact of society doesn't short-circuit what God has intended for us? How can we be accountable to God for what He wants for us? To make sure that we're not part of what brings about the downfall of this world.

And that it has nothing and no impact in our church and in our family.

So how do we make sure that that trend is fought back away from the boundaries of our church and our nation and most importantly, our family? How can we do that? I think there's a number of pretty basic ways that sometimes we take too much for granted.

A starting point has to be God must be first. God must be first. If our family is going to serve God's purposes, God has to be first in our family. Now, it's simple. It's straightforward. It's not some surprising foundational principle. But it is what must occur.

You think about what's happened in our country. We used to be a Christian nation because God was a part of our nation. We used to believe in God we trust. We don't believe that anymore in our country. God is not a priority in our country. He's taken a back seat in our world today. It used to be said God was present in every believer's mind. Maybe you've heard that little saying, God must be present in every believer's mind. Yeah, that's true. But I think, more importantly, He has to be preeminent. Not just be present, but be preeminent. Be the priority in our life. Not just present, but the priority.

There's an interesting illustration that makes this point. You may have heard it. In a way, it compares our life to a cabinet. So if you imagine your life as a cabinet or a chest of drawers. A chest of drawers. How many have a chest of drawers? Okay, almost everybody does, right? Imagine your life as a chest of drawers. And every drawer represents a part of your life. Maybe responsibilities that you have. So you've got one drawer that could be your job. You might have another drawer that is your relationship with your spouse.

Maybe that you're a husband, or that you're a wife. Maybe you have a drawer that says, I'm a father, or a drawer that says, I'm a mother. And so every day we carry out our responsibilities, and as we do these different things, well, I open my job drawer when I'm at my work. Or I shut that, I close that, I'm on the way home, I'm going to be a father when I get home.

And so we open and shut these various drawers as we need them. And in many ways, since we all have so many multiple responsibilities, it's not necessarily a bad thing. It's a normal thing. But having these various responsibilities, are we using them in a correct way? I mean, in one sense, our families couldn't function properly without these drawers being opened and closed along the way.

But here's the question. Which one of those drawers identifies our relationship with God the Father and with Jesus Christ? Do we open the Sabbath drawer? And this is my Sabbath relationship with God. And when the Sabbath's over, I shut that drawer and I go on with my job drawer on Sunday, or then I just go on to my father role or my husband role, and I've got the God drawer shut. And all too often, I think, we look at life in that vein. That God's present, but He's not preeminent. He's present but not preeminent.

Because if God just has a drawer in our life, we've got our life out of sorts. God may be present in the cabinet, but He's not preeminent. Because if we have things in the right priority, God must be the cabinet. God must be the cabinet, not just one drawer. God must frame our life. All our other drawers, all our other responsibilities, must be based on the fact that we have a relationship with God the Father and with Jesus Christ. So all our responsibilities, all of our relationship, should fit into that relationship with God. Because God isn't just looking for a higher drawer in our life.

Maybe it's a little bit more important. We open it more. No. What He expects is that He frames our life. And so that's the question then when we consider the impact of what God has in mind for us and for our families and for the church. Does God just have a place? Or is it first place? Is it a place or first place? Because there's a big difference. There's a big difference.

Does God just have a drawer in our cabinet of life? Or is He our life? Is He our life? And so if we are claiming to have God first in our life, we can begin to recognize how that should impact our family. If our family is to avoid destruction from the forces of this world and the forces of these heavenly agents that are opposing us, we have to consider how did we learn when we were little?

As parents, we saw our children come up here. How did we learn common sense? How did we learn wisdom when we were little? Well, did it just come to us? Was it instinct? Or did we study it or read about it? Well, not that you can't do those things. But as little children, we grew up seeing life modeled in front of our eyes by people we looked up to. They lived that way. They were our heroes. I remember Mrs. Ruzim in second grade, a lady that was an amazing teacher.

And I learned so much. I wanted to be like Mrs. Ruzim when I was little. Now, who was it for you? Maybe your mom and dad. Certainly, hopefully that's the case. But when we look up to mom and dad, we look up to a primary influence in our life. I mean, the influence as children is mom and dad. Mom and dad. And the question then is, as moms and dads, as grandmas and grandpas, have we put God first in our lives, in our families?

Or does He just have a place? You see, the Bible talks a lot about modeling right behavior. Deuteronomy 6, verse 4 is one of those passages that shows how we can put God first. Not just that we should, because that always seems to be the challenge. We know this to be true, that we need to put God first in our family. Well, how do we do that? How? How can I make that happen in my family? Well, God wants us to know the how. Here's how we do it. Here's how we do it. Deuteronomy 6, verse 4. I guess this is how we deuter it.

Yeah, we do it this way, too. Deuteronomy 6, verse 4. You know this passage. Sometimes it's called the Shema, the hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Is God first and foremost in our life? Well, we know this is what we should do. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. That's the command. We love God. The first commandments remind us of that.

How do we do it? Here's how. Verse 6. These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. And so you saw the awards that we gave out today that these children learn God's word. They memorize God's scripture. They know the books of the Bible. Some of these kids would take us on. We know the books of the Bible, adults.

And we name the commandments like the children can. We should. Not only that they're in our mind, but they're in our heart. They're a part of our life. And when they're in our minds and in our hearts, we know they can't be far from our lips and our hands, our thoughts and our actions.

And so we model this behavior. Verse 7 says, you shall teach them diligently to your children. We talk about these things. It says, talk of them when you sit in your house. When you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand. And they shall be frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Now we don't literally have to do those things because we've been given God's Holy Spirit. We don't need them written on our doorposts. They're already here. They're written in our house, where God resides, in us. And so we talk about them. And this little text here in Deuteronomy reminds us that loving God, putting God first, loving God with all our heart, our mind, our strength, it doesn't come naturally. It doesn't come naturally.

It must be taught. It must be taught. And parents, if we just rely on the church to teach our children, it's not going to happen. When they don't have to be here, they won't. They won't be here. So will the church support you? Absolutely. Will we have programs to encourage proper parenting? Absolutely. But the home is where it must be taught. And the family is the ideal place to teach the love of God.

God made it that way. God made it that way. And you know some of those famous sayings, you know, give me a child until he's seven years old and anyone else can have him for life? That's what they say. Because those formative years are so critical. You know, the old proverb is, as the twig is bent, so grows the tree. And those things, they're truisms. They're truisms. And I remember the time they used to compare little children to being a blank cassette tape. Okay, cassettes are long gone.

I don't know what they'd be now. Maybe a brand new flash drive or something like that, I suppose. It's blank. It's clear. And we get to put the information on it. It's clean. It's fresh. It's ready for input. And our children are just like that. And so God is telling us in Deuteronomy, spiritual values are learned in the family. And so in a way, they're taught, but in the family, they're caught. They're caught in the family as well as being taught in the daily routine of life. Parents, have you ever been amazed at what your children pick up? Where'd they learn that? Now, normally it's probably some habit or some thing you said that you shouldn't have said, and now your little one is saying the same thing.

Oh, great. I'm going to change that. They mimic what they say or what they hear, don't they? They mimic what we say. They see. They hear in our home. And sometimes that makes mom and dad very proud. Other times, it's embarrassing. It's embarrassing. I did hear a story about a little boy after church. He went up to the pastor and he said, When I grow up, I'm going to give you lots of money.

The minister was really happy about that. That sounds really great. Well, thank you. The pastor said, Why do you want to give me lots of money? Well, I heard my dad say, You're one of the poorest preachers we've ever had. Yeah, they mimic what they hear, don't they?

And parents, we know this to be true. When we least expect it, when we least realize it, our children do learn and they do see. Do they hear us in the car? Well, absolutely they do. Do they hear us in our conversations? Do we hear us in our disagreements? Do they hear us at the store?

Do they hear us murmuring when we're waiting in line? Yeah, absolutely they do. And it is true that we train up a child. Well, how are we training them? Have we trained them with the concept that God is preeminent in our lives? No matter where we are, no matter what we're doing, no matter what the situation. Because God reminds us in Proverbs 22, you train up a child in the way he should go, and when he's old, he will not depart from it.

And so those formative years are so critical. I was reminded of this when I was reading about a particular type of carving. Have any of you ever carved your initials on a tree? Anybody ever do that? Okay, there's a few of us that might admit to it. Did you get in trouble for doing it? Maybe when you weren't supposed to be doing it. But I didn't know about this. We probably all heard of hieroglyphics. You can probably think of the ancient Egyptians and their little symbol language that they've carved into stones and things like that.

Well, there's other carvings that are done on trees, and they call them arbor glyphs. Not hieroglyphs, but arbor glyphs. Like trees, you know, like Arbor Day, you plant a tree. Arbor glyphs. And they carve into trees. And they've been doing this for a couple of hundred years, and maybe even more than that.

But since trees are living things, they die, and then they rot away. We don't have records. But you can go back to the 1850s here in America, and they may not be as clear now because the bark has grown over some of the carvings, but there are some beautiful arbor glyphs that go back to the 1850s. And I was reading an article about one of them. They had the picture of the outside of this tree that had been carved into. And you couldn't really tell exactly what you could tell. There was an image there. But since the tree had died and they had cut it down, they shaved different sections of this tree away.

And when you got down closer and closer to the original carving, it was an absolutely beautiful panorama of a nature scene that was carved into this tree. And I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that these carvings that were etched into a young tree lasted year after year after year, decade after decade after decade. And we're still there today! After all these years. It was still obvious. Now, there was one humorous one I saw. They had various pictures in this one article.

You should Google it and look up some of these arbor glyphs that are out there. There was one someone was trying to put one over on some of the explorers, and they carved in Fred and Wilma Flintstone. 200 BC. Okay, maybe not. But what it did remind me of? You think about the impressions that are made early on. Like the carvings in a tree. They last. They last. And those arbor glyphs were a reminder to me that even in the physical world, this is true.

But how much more in the spiritual realm, when we raise up our children and train them, and we teach them, and we make God preeminent within our family? Because if God is just a Sabbath thing, it's not going to hold. It's not going to be etched deep into the bark, because those early impressions are certainly lasting ones. And if we're going to do this, we're going to fulfill what Deuteronomy 6 says. I think a second aspect that makes sure this takes place, we've got to be together. We've got to spend a lot of time with our family. Our church family has to spend time together.

Why do we do all these socials? Why do we have all these activities anyway? Is it just because we've got nothing better to do? No, it builds our family. It builds bonds. It builds values that we hold in common. And because these spiritual values are ones that are lived, they're living and breathing things, we've got to spend time together in order for them to be caught, and not just taught. Not just taught. I was reminded about this a while back. We had a bowling activity.

Any of you avid bowlers? I know we love volleyball in Cincinnati, maybe not bowling as much, but we have our bowling activity. I know I think Dan Peabody organized the last one. There are a few of us. I'm a terrible bowler. Bowling is kind of like golf, I think. You've got to do it all the time to get any good at it. So if I break 100, I think I'm doing pretty good.

But the bowling activity, I realized something. I could probably bowl a perfect game every time. I figured it out. And it's not by practicing, because I'm too lazy to do that. I don't want to practice bowling. But I realized, I've got to stand all the way back here, and those pins are all the way down there at the end of the alley.

I mean, if you think they'd care if I just walked down about the 10-foot mark and wailed away from there, I think if I did that, I could get a 300 every single time. Just walk down to the end of the alley, and instead of being 60 feet away, be right on top of those... I'm sure I could do it. I'm sure I could do it. Okay, as I was thinking about that and bowling, I had another gutter ball. But I was reminded, the farther away you get, the more chance for error.

Because distance increases the chance of error. And bowling wasn't really the issue. You think about family. The farther away you get from your family, the farther away you get from church, your spiritual family, the farther away you get from your spiritual father and elder brother, error increases, doesn't it? Error increases with distance. So it's so critical that we are near to each other, that we're close to each other, that we have a bond between us.

How are you going to teach spiritual values if there's any kind of a space, if there's a distance between it? They're not going to be taught. And this is a hard thing to do, especially in the world that we live in. Our world doesn't lend itself to spending a lot of time together as families. Satan's got an amazing strategy just to take up our time so we can't be together, because we have to leave the family to go and work and accomplish our tasks in order to take care of our families.

And most of us have those kinds of jobs that keep us away, keeps us away. And so, if you're like me, I use the excuse, well, I spend quality time with my family. Not quantity. But see, Deuteronomy doesn't say that. It doesn't say, well, if it's quality time, well, then that's okay. You see the problem with that kind of thinking? It doesn't speak to what Deuteronomy 6 says. Deuteronomy 6 says, hey, you're walking together, and you talk about it.

That opportunity presented itself right then. When I happened to sit down with my family, that happened to be the moment to talk about it. When I was walking, by the way. When I was getting ready for bed and ready to lie down. When I'm in my house, but if I'm not in my house, how can I predict that teachable moment, that time to spend together, that they can be passed on? In fact, if we're still here in Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 6, 17, a little farther down, notice what it says. Here's a moment that we will miss if we don't spend a lot of time together.

It says, diligently keep the commands of the Lord your God, His testimony, a statute which He commanded you today, that you should do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you, that you may go in and possess the good land which the Lord swore to your fathers.

Cast out all your enemies before you as the Lord has spoken. And of course, think of that in a spiritual sense, not just the physical sense that ancient Israel was thinking of, but do what's right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you.

God will bless us as we draw close to Him. And as we draw close to Him, we'll take the opportunity to be together with our church family and our individual families, because verse 20 is going to take place then. When your son asks you in the time to come, saying, why isn't dad ever home? Why isn't mom ever around? No, it doesn't say that. It says, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, what's the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, the judgments, which the Lord your God has commanded you?

How does God's way look in my life? Why do we do this? Why don't we eat that? Why do they get to do that? And we don't. Why do we do this? Why do I have to get dressed up for church? You see, all those questions are going to take place. But if we're not present, where's the answer going to come from? It will come from other sources. And I'm not trying to put us all on a guilt trip or anything like that. But as you think about these things, I think it should help us to reflect on what's really important.

What is most important in our life? I mean, think about just survival. Can a family survive on just a little time together? I could survive. But does God just want us to survive or does He want us to thrive? You see, that's the question. How much better will we understand each other when we take time to be together? When there's less distance, there'll be less chance of error.

And so how critical is that? Less chance for misunderstandings, more opportunities to pass on spiritual understanding. Which means then, not just spending time together is important, but then how we spend that time together. Which means that our house has to become more of a spiritual home.

It has to be a spiritual home. I mean, if you think of that phrase, a spiritual home, is there anything in particular that comes to mind? Because certainly, God's got to be preeminent in our life. And yes, we have to spend time together.

But that time together has to be in a spiritual environment, doesn't it? It has to be in a spiritual environment. I mean, oftentimes, if we think of a spiritual home, maybe grandmas and grandpas, moms and dads, we might think of the family gathered together. We open our Bibles. It's a quiet evening. We read together.

We do Bible readings. We talk about televisions off. We're together. Well, that's a great thing. I mean, if we could take the time to do that, and every day involved a spiritual activity, no matter how old or young our children are, certainly that would help make it a spiritual home. But I think our Cabinet analogy also points out another way we can make our home spiritual. I think one of the challenges we face today is this world wants to divide our life.

It wants to divide our life. And oftentimes we fall prey to that. That we divide our lives ourselves into the secular things that we do, and then the more godly things, the spiritual things, or the spiritual things that we do, the sacred things we do. So have we divided our lives into the sacred things that we do and the secular things that we do? I mean, when you consider that, all right, secularly, I've got to do my job. I've got to go work. When it comes to the spiritual things, all right, have I diligently studied the Bible with my kids? Have I taught them God's way? All right, let's say we have.

Let's say that we have. We've taught our children the books of the Bible, God's commandments, and they do these things. They understand them. All right, now, how do I act when I've got an incompetent checker at the grocery store? What do my kids see then? What do the children see when my wife asks me to take out the trash? Fine, I'll do it, but I don't want to. So the grumbling and the complaining that's exhibited there? Oh, we've got our family devotionals where we're studying the Bible and we have our spiritual home.

But then what about the application? What about the application of those things? Are we living, breathing examples of those very things? And which one do you think speaks louder? Just the memorization of a work? Memorizing that passage? Or bottling it? Living it? Doing it? You see, that's the biggest challenge. That's the biggest challenge, to live this way in every circumstance.

Because remember, our kids see it all. They see it all. They see the feuding that goes on between us. And you may have heard about the big fight the husband and wife had. They were driving down the road. They were mad.

They had nobody saying a word. Because they had had this argument. Neither one is going to admit that they're wrong. And as they're going along, they happen to pass this farm. And in the pasture there, there were mules and pigs. Now the husband thought he'd be really smart. And he said, hey, must be relatives of yours. And the wife said, yep, in-laws. You think about what we model.

Are we really modeling godly behavior? The children see us open our Bibles and talk about these things. But what spiritual lessons are they learning from our actions? From the things that we do? One of the Proverbs speaks to this, or many of them actually do, but the one that I focused in on for this moment was Proverbs 13.2. Proverbs 13, verse 2. Because so many times we get ourselves in trouble, like this man with the mules and the pigs. What do we say? How do we model this behavior? Proverbs 13, verse 2, it says, From the fruit of a man's mouth he enjoys good, but the desire of the treacherous is violence.

Now we're getting down to, do we do what we say, or do we just say it? Do we say it and do differently? Verse 3, it says, The one who guards his mouth preserves his life. The one who opens wide his lips comes to ruin. And so if we want to teach the love of God, then whatever it is we're doing, we have to do it with joy. We have to do it without murmuring and complaining. We have to be, well, I guess we could say lip-syncing in some ways. You know, lip-syncing, you move your lips to the words of the song. Not just for faking it, that's not the lip-syncing that I mean.

But when you lip-sync, you're supposed to match the lyrics of the song, and the better you match it, the more perfectly it looks as though you're singing. You see, our lips, our words, have to match our lives. So our lips and our lives must be synced. It must be synchronized. Our lips and our lives, our talk and our actions must be synced together. So as parents, grandparents, we can't just say they must do these things. This is good to obey God and then disobey ourselves.

You think they catch that difference? Oh, boy, they see it all so easily. And so Christ spoke a lot to this very thing, much the same as Proverbs 13. We know Matthew 12, 34, where it says, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. I think that is so true. It is so true. And so if we're going to build these bonds, we must model this behavior.

We must develop that spiritual home, which means we take it to the next level, that we're intricately involved in our children's lives. We're intricately involved with our children's lives. If we're going to be a spiritual home, our children have to be bound together with us, with us, because we're living God's way. And we can't forget this commandment of honor your father and mother. That is certainly one of the commandments. But so oftentimes, as people are in such a hurry, we're in such a hurry, and we get so distracted, we get so off track.

And the issues facing our families today are such serious ones. I did a quick search. There was a company called the Zuhr Institute that listed major issues facing teens today. And it has a whole website full of all kinds of things. But just the list is overwhelming.

And you know these things. The major issues facing our children today. Suicide. That's number one. Suicide. Violence. Bullying. Internet addiction. Eating disorders. Anorexia, bulimia. Substance abuse. Video games. Porn. TV violence. Violence at home. Violence in our society. And that's just the top list. That's just the top list. And you don't have to go very far to know the stories that go along with these things.

And there's story after story after story. And the amazing part is when the children get into these things. I read a few articles about these various issues. From the children themselves. That got into these messes. And you know, we hear the stories in the news all the time.

And one of the amazing things that I found kind of connecting some of these stories together. Often times, they cited their parents as never knowing what they were into. Mom and Dad never knew. The people that should have been closest to them had no clue. That they were into the... or at least that was their perspective on these things. And so I think that speaks to the importance of how intricately we're involved. How intricately involved are we together? Now, I think all of these things also point to our church family as well.

If you think about this in a greater level. I read an interesting quote thinking about a lot of these things. They talked about bullying at school as one of the problems. And I think it was Einstein that said education is what's left after you forget everything they taught you in school. What are we teaching our children? Are we educating our families? Because if we're counting on others to do it for us, that's what they're going to be facing. That's what this world is bringing. And as we consider these kinds of things, it reminds us of the great importance that God has placed on moms and dads. And knowing our children and being actively involved in what they're doing and how they're spending time and facilitating their success is critical.

Which means we have to be parents that should be honored. Honor your father and mother. Are we honorable when it comes to modeling God's behavior before our families? Because that's the responsibility God wants us to take on. And He reminds us of that very thing. In fact, how many prophecies are there that talk about the fact that in the end times, moms and dads are going to lose control. They won't be in charge of their families. One that came to my mind is in Isaiah 3, verse 10.

Isaiah 3, verse 10, probably familiar with this one. Isaiah 3, verse 10, it is a prophecy for our time and reminds us of where our culture has gone. Notice Isaiah 3, verse 10, a familiar passage. It says, "... say to the righteous that it will be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings." So that's a great thing. That's a good thing. We do what's right.

Will blessings follow? Ultimately, absolute, no doubt. It says, "... they shall eat of the fruit of their doings." But on the other hand, woe to the wicked. Sounds like Deuteronomy 29, chapter 30. Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given." Rewards on both sides! For righteousness or for falling short. Verse 12, for as my people, children are their oppressors, women rule over them.

Oh, my people, those who lead you cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths. The Lord stands up to plead and stands to judge the people. The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders of his people and his princes, for you've eaten up the vineyard. The plunder of the poor is in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor, says the Lord God of hosts?

And of course, when he says, children are their oppressors, if you look this up in the Hebrew, it's talking about little, little children. It's not talking about the tweens. It's talking about little, little ones. And it talks about oppressors that tyrannize and harass and distress. And that's the way our society is going. That's the way our children are going if we don't parent. If we don't grandparent. This is the normal. This is the everyday. This is the way of our world. And so as we look at the way of the world, we have to counter-dick that.

We can't allow our families to decline. We can't allow that infiltration in the church, because God gave us the family as a model of what he's doing. And so our family must be a stable spiritual family if our children are to grow up understanding God's way. In fact, I was reminded of the beginning of Luke, Luke 1, verse 13.

This is certainly a reminder of where we need to be. We need to be fulfilling this particular prophecy. Here the angel is speaking to Zechariah, his wife Elizabeth, Lord John the Baptist. It's interesting what the angel said to him. Notice this prophecy about John. It says, Don't be afraid, Zechariah. Your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you're to give him the name John.

He will be a joy and a delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is to never take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, and turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

Now, certainly John had that responsibility. But parents, hasn't God given us that same responsibility to prepare our children for the Lord? To prepare our families so that they walk in the wisdom of righteousness, so that they have their hearts turned toward God? Certainly, God's given us that responsibility to have that spiritual home. Which means we're going to be fulfilling this particular passage. In fact, Christ said how we could do that. How we could do that. It comes down to just one word.

Making our homes a spiritual home means love. It means love. Teaching our children actively to love. Christ gave us that command, John 13.34, 13.35. He said, a new commandment I give you, love one another. But it's interesting, we knew we were supposed to love. But do you remember the part that Christ used as an example there? He said, a new commandment I give you, that you love one another.

How? As I have loved you. So He didn't just say it. He lived it. He did it. He modeled that love. That whole time the disciples were together. Do you think they knew what He meant when He said that? They understood perfectly because He lived that love before their eyes all those years. And so Christ said, they're going to know we are Christians by our love.

By our love. Not by our knowledge. Not by our understanding. But because we love. And so when we look out in the world today, the world has traveled so far down that path of the self-centered highway, the me highway.

And it's a tough one to turn back. And it wasn't too far from here where Christ talked about that very fact as well, that the love of many will grow cold. And so if we're to be different, we all need to model our love. The love that God has given us. And so time after time after time, we're told that that should be the environment we live in. And not to have this atmosphere of love in our family cannot bring the right relationship that God would have us model in our families.

And so God wants us to have this perspective. He wants us to give our children that. In fact, you think about these various points, it's not just about moms and dads and children. It's about all of us. I mean, shouldn't God be first and preeminent in all of our lives? He has to be. Shouldn't we spend a lot of time together as God's family?

Yeah, I don't really like bowling that much, but you know, it's good to be together. It's good to be together. We need to spend a lot of time so that we're interconnected, so that we're all modeling spirituality within God's family. And we're adjusting our definition of what spiritual really is. And we're intricately involved in each other's lives, not just within our own families, but our church family as well. Because we've been modeled that perfect love through our Savior Jesus Christ. And now we live it within the body of Christ as well. And so God has certainly blessed us with this wonderful opportunity of being a part of His family.

And so within our own personal families and within the greater family of God, we have a wonderful opportunity. And this Sabbath recognition for our children is certainly this wonderful reminder of this very fact. They will know us by our love. And so let's make it our goal to more thoroughly, more actively put these things into practice and follow that model in Deuteronomy 6. Because if we do these things and with God's help, there's no doubt we can save our family.