Guided by God's Word (Part 1)

Thank you, Matt and Jamie, for beautiful special music. Love the way your guys' voices harmonize. Thank you very much. I was asked to just briefly clarify one announcement. The campout for services time is 10.30 in the morning services. For those of you that want to drive out there and be a part of the services out at Silver Falls, it is at 10.30. And I've been informed that you also do not need to tell anybody anything. So just blow right past that thing as quick as you... I'm kidding, don't do that. No, you just, you know, pull in... you don't have to worry about telling anybody anything, but that way they... I think we'll probably just take care of it based on the numbers that we have.

So, perfect. Well, there's a sign hanging in my classroom that says, three reasons for teaching.

June, July, and August. And I do. I have this fantastic little decorative wooden sign that hangs right on the back of my... right behind my desk. And most of my kids don't get it, which is kind of humorous, but I put this sign up on the wall very tongue-in-cheek. I mean, very tongue firmly planted in cheek, and I really only ever reference it when my students are really driving me insane. It's about the only time I ever really... I'll occasionally just randomly point at the sign and then look at my watch. How much longer do I have? No. But the summer vacation that teachers have built into their schedule is a definite perk of the job. And, you know, we always have these discussions in professional development and trainings and whatever else, and everybody always asks, well, why are you a teacher? And you should see the look on their faces when you go, summer break, duh. Of course, none of us ever talk about it. None of us ever say that. I mean, it's always about making a difference in kids' lives. It's always about motivating and inspiring, which is all true.

It's all true. But I think most teachers would be lying if they told you that June, July, and August weren't part of their top three. Like most would be lying to you. That time off in the summer allows for travel, it allows for recharges, and it allows for opportunities you might not otherwise have if your job is a 12-month job. Shannon and I have been very blessed this summer having opportunity to attend just a whole slew of United Youth Camps. We went through the western United States. Her and I and the kids together as a family have attended High Sierra outside of Fresno, California.

We've attended Northwest Camp over on the Oregon coast, and we just wrapped up, as I mentioned, during the announcements, Northwest Preetine out in Walchas, Oregon. From here, I go solo for the last two. I fly out Tuesday afternoon off to Nigeria. We're headed over there to put together a youth camp south of Lagos, and then winter camp is a few months out near the end of December out in Wisconsin. So it's been a very busy but very rewarding summer. It's been a summer of learning, a summer of growing, and really a summer of serving God's people in this way. It's been a wonderful opportunity, and we've learned a lot. One of the areas of service that I was able to participate in this year was teaching Christian living classes each day of camp. Depending on where you're at, whether you're at High Sierra or at Northwest Camp, they're done a little bit differently depending on where you are. At Northwest Camp, the Christian living is fairly short. It's in the morning. High Sierra, it's evening, and it's a much longer Christian living. You also keep the same kids all week long at High Sierra for the Christian living where you rotate through some of the dorms at Northwest Camp. But regardless of the methodology, our content is the same. We have the same basic setup that we go through and we take a look at. And so far this year, the United Youth Camp program, they've always traditionally operated off of an overarching theme. They've always had some sort of a theme that they've worked with and worked from. And this year's theme was Guided by God's Word. This year's theme was Guided by God's Word. And that's taken from Psalm 119 verse 105. Let's turn over there briefly to set the stage for this particular message and those that are going to follow. Psalm 119 verse 105. Psalm 119 verse 105.

Kind of starting the next thought process here in this particular Psalm. Psalm 119 verse 105 picks up with the letter none. And 105 says, your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. David talks about how God's word, the word that he had, that he operated from, was like a lamp unto his feet. It guided his way. It allowed him to see where he was going and what he was doing. It was a light to his path.

One of the jobs that I get to do at camp, pretty much every year that I go, is evening security. And so I get to go walk around the grounds with my fancy schmancy security head lamp on and making sure that everybody's where they're supposed to be and doing all the things that they're ultimately supposed to be doing. Well, one of the things that I like to do, if I'm out there by myself, most of the time we'll go out and there'll be a couple people out there going around, which is a nice way to do it. But if I'm out by myself, one of the things I like to do sometimes is just turn off the head lamp, especially out at northwest and out of High Sierra, because you're in the middle of nowhere. So as soon as that head lamp goes off, all the stars pop and you can see all the stars really, really well. And you can walk and you can talk with God a little bit as you walk. But if you've ever tried to navigate your way along a forest trail without a flashlight in the dead of night, you know how difficult it can be.

Roots pop up and grab your feet out of nowhere, it seems like. There's rocks that shift a little bit underneath your feet. Tree branches hit you in the face. Without some form of light, you can easily become lost. You can easily take the wrong path without some sort of illumination, some sort of light guiding your way. Without illumination, without light, you simply can't see things coming.

You simply can't see things coming. You don't see as far down the path. You don't notice the hazards.

David indicates here that God's Word is that lamp that illuminates the path. It's what lights up what's out there in front of us, that His Word enables us to see the hazards and avoid them.

That we can navigate our way through the darkness by sticking close to His Word. Proverbs 6, verse 23 states it just a little bit differently. Let's turn over to Proverbs 6, and verse 23 as we begin to establish our focus here today. Proverbs 6, and verse 23.

Proverbs 6, verse 23 says, For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is a light.

Notice with the take-home message we wanted to get across to our youth this year in the camp program. That God's law, not society, not your friends, not the loudest voices out there in the media or at school or wherever the cacophony may be coming from, His Word is the final say.

Regardless of what others say, regardless of how loudly they might say it, it doesn't make it right.

God is the ultimate authority. And what we really tried to get across this year in our youth program was we worked to teach the youth that that requires us to discipline ourselves and focus in order to allow ourselves to be guided by God's Word, to really allow ourselves to be guided, step one, allow ourselves to be led. But if we provide or provided we allow ourselves to be guided, we allow ourselves to be led, God will guide us through our entire life. We see that promise actually in Psalm 48. David talks about it. Let's go ahead and turn over there. Psalm 48.

And we'll pick it up in verse 14. At the end of this this psalm of praise to God, specifically about the glory of God here, great is the Lord, greatly to be praised, the summation of the whole thing, verse 14 of Psalm 48, for this is God, our God, forever and ever. He will be our guide even to death. When we yield ourselves to God's will, and we let him lead, he will guide us forever. And when that happens, we will be guided by God's Word.

This overall theme that we had this year was broken down into five sub-themes that were reinforced each and every day through the compass checks, through the Bible classes, the Q&As that we had, the late night dorm parent chats. The activities, each of the activities, reinforce the theme as the day goes on. So they might go to volleyball, and then they're going to find some reinforcement at volleyball of that particular theme and that particular concept as they went through their day. They were reinforced in the dorms, they had placards in the dorms that had the different themes on it. They were reinforced by just these beautiful banners that I don't see here today, but Colleen Hofer puts them together. And they're just beautiful banners that they've put together and they have in the dining hall as well. But it's just that constant reinforcement, that constant looking at why are we here? What are we doing? What's the purpose? You know, it's not all just, this isn't a YMCA camp, this is God's camp. This is why we're here. This is the focus. And each day had these memory scriptures that added additional reinforcement to the theme. For example, Monday we looked at the focus on building a right and proper foundation from the Word of God. Tuesday we looked at the importance of choosing God's blessings.

Wednesday we looked at resisting evil, resisting evil. Thursday we looked at what it took to build godly relationships. And then Friday we had the culmination of the week's lessons as we dug into the concept that doing it God's way and going through this process and building on all of these things that God's Word leads to eternal life. All these themes build on one another. They go from the very beginning, the ground up, so to speak, building that proper foundation. Once you know what's right and wrong, choosing the right, resisting the wrong, building those relationships, and then if we're doing all these things and if we're building those godly relationships, God offers eternal life. They build on one another as the week progresses.

And so as we got to thinking about this, as the old saying goes, what's good for the goose is good for the gander? Well, perhaps by extension, what's good for the goslings is also good for the geese.

And so what I'd like to do is spend a little bit of time over the next several messages breaking these sub-themes down into more specific messages that are going to examine these themes in a greater depth. But what I don't want to do is I don't want to stop at just knowledge level. I want to try to get into application. I want to look at the parts in our lives of how do we apply this? How do we establish it? What does it look like in our lives? So we're going to begin today a five-part series. It'll probably take by frequency with which I speak. It'll probably take three months to get through it all, but that's okay. We're going to start a five-part series titled Guided by God's Word. And today, the first of those theories or the first of that series and the title for today's message is The Importance of a Strong Foundation. The importance of a strong foundation. We're going to start with the memory scripture, and I'm not going to put any of you that were at camp on the spot here, but the memory scripture that we had from Monday was Matthew 7 and verse 24. So if you turn over to Matthew 7 verse 24, we're going to pick up a couple things that we can kind of suss out of this particular passage. Matthew 7 and verse 24.

Matthew 7 and verse 24, we see we're nearing the end of the Sermon on the Mount here. We're kind of wrapping things up just a little bit and getting to the point where now we're really distilling it down into the really important components of all of what he has just said. Matthew 7 and verse 24. I'm in Mark. That's not going to do me any good. Give me just a second. Sorry. There we go. Matthew 7 verse 24. Matthew 7 verse 24 says, Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock. There's a really important word in that particular passage. It's the Greek word, un, O-O-N, in the pronunciation guide, and it's translated as accordingly or therefore. It's used in this place as a conjunction. How many of you remember Back to Language Arts? What's a conjunction do? Yeah, I see some people doing it with their hands. Somebody's doing the school of rock thing back in the back. Or is it school of rock? Yeah, the bill. But it takes two phrases and it joins them together, essentially. And so what we see with the word therefore at the beginning of this particular section, he's saying, therefore, he who hears these words of mine, well, which words? Well, in the immediate context, the words that he's saying in Matthew 5, 6, and 7 in the Sermon on the Mount. So let's go back and skim through these really quickly. Let's just flip a couple pages back here. Matthew 5, 6, and 7, the messages of these words and the teachings of Christ to the multitudes gathered, he says to them, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the meek, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, blessed are the merciful, blessed are the pure in heart, blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. He gives the example of being like light and being like salt, that we should let our example shine, that we should be an example to other people. He talks about the spirit of the law, how they'd heard it said that you shall not kill. Well, he was there to tell them that even hatred of your brother is as bad.

You shall not commit adultery. Well, lust is equally bad. And so he's telling them all these different things. He's talking about marriage. He's talking about oaths, revenge. He gives a specific instruction to love your enemies. Talks of fasting, prayer, not being anxious, not being hypocritical, treating others as we treat ourselves, and being wary of false prophets.

And now, throughout all that, that was a quick summation of 5, 6, and 7, we get to Matthew 7 and verse 24, where he says, therefore connecting these two things together, he who hears these words of mine, and not just these words, but all of Christ's teachings, and does them, who hears all these things that I just said, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house upon the rock.

It's not enough to just hear the Word of God. The words that we hear and the instructions that God provides us needs to be implemented. We can't hear the phrase, blessed are the peacemakers, and then turn around and run out and wage war.

We can't hear the words, blessed are the merciful, and then run out and not show mercy to our fellow man. We can't read, love your enemies, and blow it off. God means it. Those who persecute us, who spitefully use us, who hate us, were instructed to love them, period.

These statements and these attitudes are core to our faith. It's who we are.

It's living the Christian way of life. We have to actually live the life that we profess to lead. He goes on in verse 25, and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. So for the man who built on the rock, when life got tough, when it really mattered, when that house had to stand up, the house that he built withstood that storm, because it was built on the proper foundation.

It was built upon the Word of God. It was built upon the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Now, verses 26 and 27 show the contrast. 26 and 27, but everyone who hears these things of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat on that house, and it fell. And notice it doesn't just stop there. And great was its fall. This isn't like a slight stumble. This is a face plant.

This is a big fall. This is a great fall. Those that hear the Word and do not do them are building on sand. The foundation shifts, the house settles, it crumbles, and it falls down around them when the storm comes. When things get tough, that foundation is eroded away, it falls. I don't know how many of you have been over to the coast. One of the interesting things most of you have probably been to the coast, as I say that statement.

Most of you have probably been there. We live near the coast. Have you ever noticed that there are some of those places where the houses are right down tight to the edge of the beach? And you notice year after year after year it seems like less and less and less beach is between... You get it 20 years, some of those houses are going to be down on the bottom of the beach. They're going to be eroded out because over here on the Pacific, we don't have a nice gentle ocean. We have a raging tempest of an ocean sometimes.

This winter, in particular, was crazy. The beach at Northwest was completely different than it's been in the past. Mr. Storrs goes out every year and remaps out all the rip currents, goes and figures out where everything's at so we don't have anybody get sucked out to sea while they're out boogie boarding, which, you know, we're thankful for. And it just...

it changes a lot. And it tears apart and rebuilds the beach every single year. But some of those houses are getting pretty close to ending up right on the beach down below where that rockside has eroded away. So we recognize that unless we build on the rock, on the truth of God, on His way of life, and that calling that we've been provided, unless we're doing that, we're building a life that's not going to hold up when times get tough.

It won't hold up. The storm will descend, the rains will come, floodwaters will rise, and that house will fall. It's right here in Scripture. Christ told them it'll fall. So why is this crucial to our youth? Why is it the message that we wanted to get across to our kids in particular while they're young? Why is that important? Well, they have an opportunity to build that life going forward, ensuring as they mature that every aspect of their life includes God, as they continue to strengthen their relationship with Him, as they go off to college and start to train for a career, as they begin to seek a spouse.

Depending on your calling, whether or not you're a first generation, or a second, or third, or fourth, or fifth generation, I think we're getting up to at this point, some of you that were first generations may have had to come into the church and unlearn some things, you know, that you had known out here.

And then when you come in, you recognize, wait a minute, that's not the way that God wants me to live. I've got to unlearn this, I've got to unlearn this, I've got to unlearn this, right? For our second, and third, and fourth, and fifth generation kids, we don't want them to have to unlearn things. We want to build that foundation from the beginning so that they can go forward in the right way to build that foundation in all their aspects. And all of these things, all these aspects, whether it's career or spouse, or relationship with God itself, they all require a solid foundation built on God's Word, and a solid relationship with God Himself.

Now we know we have an adversary. Satan continually works to undermine that relationship. He works to undermine that foundation. So what does undermine mean? Undermine is defined as to erode the base or foundation of, and in parentheses, a rock formation, or two, to damage or weaken someone or something, especially gradually or insidiously. Brethren, the importance of a solid foundation that cannot be undermined, cannot be overstated. We have got to ensure that that foundation upon which we build is not going to be eroded out from underneath us, particularly in key areas of our lives. And one of those key areas is marriage. And because there's a wedding tomorrow, and because my own 15th wedding anniversary is coming up this next week, it's been on my mind a little bit lately, needless to say.

Worldwide marriages are struggling. Recent years, as the divorce rate remains high, we used to throw around this statistic of 50 to 60 percent of marriages end in divorce, right? They used to be the statistics. They got tossed out. Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is the divorce rate is down. It's down to 42 to 45 percent, but the bad news is the number's skewed because less people are getting married. So it's kind of a... it's hard to compare the two numbers. So what we take a look at, as marriage has been redefined, as society places a lack of importance on the institution, it's not perceived as essential. It's not desired like it used to be.

And as a result, many millennials in particular, and it's easy to pick on the millennials, but many millennials, that's just the age group of folks that are about the marriage point at this point, are taking a look at marriage and saying, no thanks. I don't want the commitment. I don't want the other thing. In my mind, I can have the exact same results, same end goal, without all the trouble, without all the commitment, without all the other stuff. There's an article that was put together. This was an essay written regarding why millennials refused to get married. I thought it was kind of interesting, actually. I'd like to share some of it with you. It says, millennials are saying no to traditional marriage in record numbers. And that's not all. In Western culture in the late 18th century, marriage transformed from an economic arrangement into a union based on love.

Now it may again be heading toward radical change. The median age at first marriage is now 27 for women and 29 for men, up from 20 for women and 23 for men in 1960. Today, an unprecedented portion of millennials will remain unmarried through age 40, a recent Urban Institute report predicted. The marriage rate might drop to 70 percent, a figure well below rates for the boomers, 91 percent, the late boomers, I don't know where the cutoff is for that, but the late boomers, 87 percent, and the Gen Xers, 82 percent. Declines might even be sharper if marriage rates recover slowly or not at all from pre-recession levels, according to the report. Traditional marriage has been on a downward trajectory for generations.

But with this group, in reference to the millennials, it appears to be in free fall.

According to a report released last month by the Pew Research Center, 25 percent of millennials have stated they are likely to never marry. That's a full 25 percent. That would be the highest share in modern history. Boston Globe columnist Tom Keene says this trend could be cause for alarm. Not getting married at all could prove tragic, said Keene, reviewing the economic and social benefits of marriage. So he's talking about tax rates and other things from a rich and poor standpoint. Says research about this trend draws panic on the Internet and tense media coverage. A recent piece in Time magazine was headlined, Why 25 Percent of Millennials Will Never Get Married, a new report from the Pew Research Center predicts that more than or more folks under 35 will be single forever. Young couples are opting to live together and put off marriage for later, if at all. About a quarter of unmarried young adults ages 25 to 34 are living with a partner, according to Pew Research Analysis, current population survey data. Marriage has lost much of its social allure, but it remains a desired milestone for about 70 percent of millennials. They say they would like to marry, but many, especially those with lower levels of income and education, lack what they deem to be a necessary prerequisite, a solid economic foundation.

So it gets into some of the reasons why they don't have the money and all of that.

Then it says, Changing ideas of marriage. Fewer millennials are choosing to marry is a reflection of modern social attitudes that reject the institution as outdated. It's time to embrace new ideas about romance and family and acknowledge the end of traditional marriage as society's highest ideal, according to Kate Bullock, author of the 2011 Atlantic cover story, All the Single Ladies, which sparked a national conversation.

Just recently, popular comedian Sarah Silverman tweeted, Why would I want the government involved in my love life? Ew, it's barbaric.

Public disenchantment with marriage is reflected in national surveys. Half of adults believe society is just as well off if people have priorities other than marriage and children, according to the recent Pew report. But what if marriage stopped forcing young people to conform to an outdated tradition? This hot topic was explored by Psychology Today's Suzanne P. Gaudas in a recent opinion piece, Millennials Are Changing the Rules on Marriage.

Marriage offers unquestionable benefits, she wrote, but it's a stale paradigm. Rather than having only a choice to marry the same old way or not to marry, let's get a little imaginative and come up with marital options that would be better suited to a variety of people. I'm being very facetious here as I read this, so hopefully you're hearing that in my voice, including a short-term trial union for younger couples, a child-rearing marriage for those who would like to be nothing more than co-parents, or a socially acceptable living-apart arrangement. A recent article in Time magazine suggests a beta marriage in which Millennials test-drive their nuptials before jumping into what is supposed to be a lifelong commitment. Margaret Mead, a woman well ahead of her time, threw this notion out in the 1960s. In 2002, journalist and author Pamela Paul wrote a book on starter marriages, and in 2011, Mexico City proposed laws supporting two-year renewable marriage contracts.

At the end of the two years, if it's not working out, you just go down to the local MMV? Marriage? No, not motor vehicles. Department of... anyway, whatever. Go down to the local one and say, you know, this isn't working out, I don't want to renew my contract. And, bada bing! You're not married anymore. It works out really well. But two-year renewable marriage contracts. It's kind of an act that's on the books in Mexico City. They go on to say, the definition of marriage has been fluid over time and between cultures. In American marriages, as they've evolved, the idea is to marry by mutual consent and build first and foremost a relationship. But among some Amazonian societies, the marriage relationship is first an economic partnership from which a relationship may develop. Will the millennial generation usher in a new era that saves American marriage by allowing it to evolve, radical as it may seem they just might? The problem with this line of thought is that marriage is not simply a societal construct, as many today believe that it is. Yes, it has changed and it has been fluid over time, from culture to culture to culture, but that wasn't the way that it was intended.

Marriage is a divine institution. And as such, society doesn't get to determine what it is, how it works, etc. God determined the rules of it from the beginning. Let's go to Genesis 2.

Let's go to Genesis 2.

Genesis 2, and we will pick it up in verse 21. A little bit of context. We're heading to verse 24, but verse 21, we'll start. Genesis 2 and verse 21, And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, he made into a woman, and he brought her to the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. There's that connector word again. Therefore, because of these things previous, a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. So we can see the intent with which God designed women. Verse 24, again, therefore, because of all the things that come before this, then verse 24 is the case. Woman was to be a complement to man. Man is to be a complement to women. And as such we see, man should leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife. Now the word cleave that's used in this particular passage is the Hebrew word devok, which can be translated as cling to or to adhere to.

Think of Velcro or glue. Think cling or adhere. I don't know how many of you have ever super glued your fingers together? You ever super glued two your fingers together? Congratulations, you now have one finger until that wears off. Like there is no, I mean, it's saying in its place, right? That's the idea. Adhered together to the point where you have two fingers that have become one or two people that have become one.

That marriage covenant is designed to adhere two people together, to make them one, to unify them spiritually, mentally, and physically to become one flesh. It really binds them together. Let's go over to Ecclesiastes 4. We'll see another analogy here that describes it in a similar way. Ecclesiastes 4, we'll see another analogy that really focuses on the importance of building it on a proper foundation, really making sure that the foundation upon which we build is God.

Ecclesiastes 4, we'll pick it up in verse 9. It talks specifically about friends here. Spouses are friends. So hopefully spouses are friends. Ecclesiastes 4 verse 9 says, Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.

For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will be warm. But how can one be warm alone? And then verse 12, Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him, and a three-fold cord is not quickly broken. Adding that third cord strengthens the rope. I don't know if any of you remember made friendship bracelets or not, but you know, you got that little itty-bitty thread that you do. My kids, they made tons of friendship bracelets this year. But you have the little itty-bitty string, and it's not super strong by itself.

One strand next to nothing. It'll break very, very easily. If you add a second strand, it does make it stronger, but they're not connected together very well. You can twist them, but they kind of untwist really easily. Once you add that third cord, once you add that third strand, now you can braid. And now you have something that's going to stay together very, very well. In fact, you can actually, if it's long enough, you can braid it together and not even worry about knotting it.

It'll hold itself together, for the most part, based on that third braid. But it ends up providing a much stronger connection and a much stronger rope. In our marriages, that third cord is God. If the husband and the wife are focused on God, and as we saw earlier, and Mr. Kester talked about this in his message this afternoon, if we saw earlier what we saw earlier in Matthew 7, if they are doing what God has instructed them to do, and God is an integral part of that marriage, the marriage will be strong, the marriage will be healthy.

A good, solid, healthy marriage is the foundation of a good, solid, healthy family, which results in godly offspring, which is really the physical purpose of a happy marriage. But we also recognize the relationship has a very important spiritual component to it as well. Let's turn over to Ephesians 5. Mr. Kester went here earlier. That's okay. Repetition is important. Ephesians 5. Oops, right past it. We'll pick it up in verse 22. I always get a kick out of this particular passage. We read this one in all of the weddings that we do with the church.

I remember there was a wedding several years ago when I first came to the area in which, you know how it is with weddings, we have people that are not in the church that come to the wedding too. And they read this particular passage, and I don't know if it was Mr. Sephora or Mr. Duncan, I can't remember now, but the person sitting directly in front of us, he says, wives be in subjection to your own husband, submit to your husband, and she turned to her friend and said, yeah, right!

I mean, out loud, and she and I were like, oh, oh wow! Like, she was not having that. But it's a misunderstanding of what that really means that people get kind of stuck on. So Ephesians 5 and verse 22, wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church, and he is Savior of the body.

Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. We know what that's like. As members of God's church, we know what that's like to say, you know, all right, not me, but you. Okay, fair enough. And as long as that is loving and not domineering, like Carl or Mr.

Kester was saying, you know, with Rod and this and that, you know, it's a good thing. Verse 25, husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

So husbands, verse 28, ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh and his bones. And we see in verse 31, Genesis 2 21 again, or 2 24, for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

He says, this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. This has spiritual parallels, marriage. This physical marriage that we see has spiritual parallels to Christ and the church and that relationship between the two. We saw that in Matthew 7, those who hear these words and who do them will build their house on the rock.

So we can't look at these instructions and blow them off, either. We have to make sure that we're doing these things. And as Mr. Kester brought out, he's absolutely right, these are a tall order. They are. These are tough. Making sure that at all times we are giving up our wants and our needs and our desires for the other person.

We have to love our wives like Christ loved the church, willing to die for her, to give up everything, to sacrifice it all. Men, are you willing to give up everything for that woman on your left or on your right? Are you willing to give up your life? That's what we're talking about here. That's what we're talking about. We have to submit ourselves to one another also.

That's the instruction that we see. That's all we have to do. If the marriage is built on the rock, the marriage relationship is like the first row of bricks built on that foundation. It's the beginning of a house that gets built. Many of you have the luxury and the fantastic wonderfulness of being grandparents. You know, many of you have seen the fruits of that labor go on and on and on as the family expands. But from that relationship comes children, comes grandchildren, comes great grandchildren, grafted in son-in-laws and daughter-in-laws. And the family grows and it expands generationally. And that house gets built as children marry and they have children of their own.

The importance of building that family on the proper foundation, setting that example, ensuring that God is present and that relationship is healthy is essential.

Because it has generational ramifications. Generational ramifications. I've shared my story a little bit. Some of you may know it for those that don't indulge me for a moment.

I grew up up in the Spokane area. I grew up in a household with an unbeliever. My dad was not in the church. My dad was an alcoholic. And as a result, the relationship was quite strained.

We didn't always see eye to eye. Things were not the easiest. We were kids. We would hear the truck come home and instead of being excited that dad was home, we all went, oh, he's home. Because we knew that the yelling was about to start and the drinking was about to start and everything was about to go nuts. And so that moment, that little bit of peace that we had was now over.

And so, needless to say, we grew up. He didn't appreciate the church. In fact, I think in my dad's viewpoint, I think he saw the church as the other man in my mom's life. And I think in his, some strange way of looking at it, that she was somehow being unfaithful to him by being faithful to God. And so I think that was kind of the way that he looked at it. But he didn't appreciate church. Feast was a no-go. Thankfully, we had feasts in Spokane every year or we would not have been able to attend. We were not allowed to go stay in a temporary dwelling. We had to stay home. We had to be home by a certain time. Dinner had to be on the table, etc., etc., etc. So going off to the feast somewhere was an impossibility. Camp? I couldn't go to camp as a kid. There was no opportunity for camp for me until I was out of the house. I grew up in that stress and in that toxicity for 18 years and basically graduated school in 1999. And two months later, I was gone. I couldn't do it anymore. I had to go. And so I moved down here to Oregon. And so as a result of this environment, partly due to this environment, partly due to my own human nature, much of my teenage years from a church standpoint, I was putting in my seat time. I was breathing the air of what was in the room. I was taking notes. I was doing what everybody was quote-unquote supposed to do. But I was a good foot and three-quarter out of the church. I mean, from a standpoint of my actual actions and the things that I was doing, you know, I didn't necessarily appreciate what God was doing in my life at that point in time. And so I am unbelievably thankful for Mr. Mickelson and Mr. White, who recognized that you don't throw away a life that's a little banged up. That you continue to go through and you work with that person and you help them and you get them to where they need to go. I've had to unpack a lot of baggage from my childhood. As a result of that experience, I've strived to be a better father, be a better husband. I'm not perfect. In fact, there are times that I remind myself way too much of my own father and frankly, it scares me to death.

But I'm doing what I can with the cards that I've been dealt. Every generation theoretically does it better than the one before it. If we're allowing ourselves to be guided by God's Word, if we are allowing that foundation to dictate to us where we go and what we do, theoretically, each generation does it better than the generation before it, provided that choice is made. As I allow myself to be led, my children will look at my example. They'll eventually marry. They'll have children of their own. They'll have the opportunity to unpack all the baggage that I've given them.

And hopefully they won't grow up in that same toxic environment. They won't have as much baggage to unpack. They'll work through their issues and theoretically, provided they make the choice, and I pray they do, they'll make the choice when it's time. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 7.

1 Corinthians 7.

1 Corinthians 7. We'll pick it up in verse 14. I'm going to go into verse 10, but only because I need context. I don't want to belabor the first part of verse 10, and I'll just give this as a caveat. We recognize that not all marriages work out. Not all marriages work out. Things are difficult. Sometimes people are not willing to do what they need to do. And so we see some instruction in the very beginning part of here that we're going to look at from a context standpoint, but we're going to move on into verses 13, 12, 13, and 14. 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 10. Now, to the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord. A wife is not to depart from her husband. Even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband, and a husband is not to divorce his wife. But to the rest, I, not the Lord, say, if any brother has a wife who does not believe and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. Verse 14. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean. But now they are holy. I was the product of such a union. The belief of my mother sanctified my father and myself because of her faith, because of her belief, because she built her life on the rock. I had a life offered to me that gives me an opportunity to be part of God's family. Despite the difficulty of growing up in a household of a fairly obstinate unbeliever, I was given the opportunity to be part of God's family. And thanks to the mercy and the love of our Heavenly Father, I'm here today. We all have to work with what we're given. We may not be blessed with a solid family background. We may not have the happiest of marriages. We may be divorced. We may unpack incredible baggage from our family of origin.

As I talked with a number of kids throughout the camp programs in a variety of different discussions this year, whether it be Q&A's, Bible studies, Christian living, or just, honestly, informal discussions, it became very apparent that Satan is working overtime on undermining our families. It became very apparent very quickly. And to be honest, he's given it both barrels.

Absolutely giving it both barrels. He's attacking marriages, family relationships, fracturing families, causing stress and chaos on the home front. It has an impact on our youth.

And they may appear pretty resilient, but in the conversations, they're struggling.

They are struggling. The life that we build has lasting ramifications into the future. It has a ripple effect, if you will. What do we want our legacy to be? Generationally, when individuals look back, what do we want them to say about us? My mom's legacy is her example. She built her life on the rock. That marriage was the storm that her house had to survive. The house she built withstood it. She held on to her belief. Her belief sanctified me and gave me the opportunity that I had. Despite the difficulties of growing up in that toxicity, I survived. It was a roller coaster, but I'm here. My children now have the same opportunities set apart through the belief of my wife and I. What do we want our legacy to be? Going forward, what do we want our legacy to be?

Maybe the damage is already done, but it's never too late to shore up that foundation, to return to the Word of God, look into the Word of God, build that foundation that's provided, be that example, that light in the darkness to somebody else. You might see your example and see that God's way works. Let's go over to James 1. James 1.

James 1 and verse 22, but we're going to start in 19. It's also where Mr. Kester went today.

James 1 verse 19 says, So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

We can get upset about some of the silliest things sometimes. I have a mantra that I repeat in the back of my head at times, and it's not that my wife is difficult to deal with, so please don't take that from what I'm trying to say here. She's very easy to live with. I'm the difficult one in our relationship, but my mantra has always been, it's not that big of a deal. When it comes down to it, if there's a little frustration in the whole scheme of things, who cares? It's really not that big of a deal. And I think sometimes we let these little things blow up into these really gigantic things, and it's kind of tough. So sometimes we get this wrath thing going on. Verse 21, Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness, with humility, the implanted word which is able to save your souls. Verse 22, But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty, looks into that guiding light that God has provided us, and continues in it, follows it, walks with it, illuminates the path ahead of them with it, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work. This one will be blessed in what he does. We can't afford to deceive ourselves. We can't afford to think that we're somehow doing better than we really are. We have to look into that mirror and recognize where we really are. Are we hearing? Are we doing?

The words that God has given us within Scripture have to be what we base our lives upon. We've been given a textbook, so to speak, that has all of what we will need to navigate this world, and navigate this life. In all situations, in all cases, God's law trumps man's law. Acts 5, verse 29 tells us we ought to obey God rather than men. We must hear and do, and in doings, though, we will build upon a proper foundation. Brethren, let us build our lives and our families upon the rock.