Learning How to Live, Part 2

Learning How to Live, Part 2. Last week, we asked if you know how to live. Based on what we are witnessing in our world today, we would have to conclude that people do not know how to live. Parents killing their children, children killing their parents, neighbors killing neighbors, people killing people just for the thrill of it all. Virtually everyone, including members of the Church of God, are caught up in a dog-eat-dog, topsy-turvy world where the law of the jungle prevails. Common courtesy and decency have gone by the boards, and with the technology of the day, no area of the world is exempt from this Babylonian kind of society chaos and confusion that we see. Recently, in Van Buren, Arkansas, this happened in recent weeks, a 13-year-old and a 15-year-old filmed themselves on their cell phones having sex. And then they sent it to their friends, who then, of course, sent it to the world. When you post something on the Internet, you're posting it around the world. It is no longer a private matter. It becomes public domain, unless there are several, of course, passwords and that kind of thing that prohibits someone from going to that site. And you can almost rest assured that if it is vulgar, if it is obscene, that it will be passed on to others. So what has happened to us as a people? Once again, I submit to you that even the parents and ministers who think they're really with it and know the scene do not begin to understand, realize the depth of depravity that our society is drowning on, because they, whomever all they are, it seems on the one hand that the world is pretty much going along as it always has here in the good old U.S. of A. But those thousands of peoples who lost their jobs this past week, those who lost loved ones because of drunk drivers, those who lost loved ones because of a murderer, and you could go on and on of those who experienced some kind of tragedy this past week. We have come to that time described in Proverbs 30, verse 11. If you would please turn to Proverbs 30 and verse 11. This is a very interesting set of scriptures here. Several passages. Proverbs 30 and verse 11. All of these various generations have come together at the present time to form what the Germans call the zeitgeist. Zeitgeist means the spirit of the times. And so these verses here describe the generations that are now extant in our society. Proverbs 30, verse 11. There is a generation that curses their father and does not bless their mother. Of course, anytime you dishonor your parents, you're in essence cursing them. Anytime you do not obey the word of God, of course, you're in essence dishonoring God. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness. So many of our youth don't even know right from wrong because they haven't been taught it. They don't know it is wrong to use four-letter words every other sentence. More about that later. There is a generation, oh, how lofty are their eyes, and their eyelids are lifted up. They are filled with pride. Oh, they are so with it.

There is a generation whose teeth are as swords and their jaw teeth as knives to devour the poor from off the earth and the needy from among men. Most parents today are so busy trying to get themselves ready for the next bout, ready trying to get themselves or their children to the next place, which I call the next bout, to the next place. So busy that they really don't have time to teach their children the basics of how to live. Now, I can give sermons until I'm blue in the face, and I wonder how many made any change based on what we heard last week. You know, if preaching would save the world, it seems to me it should have been saved a long time ago. But we're going to keep on. We're going to keep on keeping on. Satan called a worldwide convention of demons. In his opening address, he said, we can't keep Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their Savior once they gain that connection with God. Our power over them is broken. So let them go to their churches, let them have their covered-dish dinners, but steal their time so they don't have time to develop a relationship with God and Christ. This is what I want you to do, said the devil. Distract them from gaining hold of their God and maintaining that vital connection throughout the day. How shall we do this? The demon shouted. Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds, he answered. Tempt them to spin, spin, spin, borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours, and the husbands to work six, seven days each week, ten, twelve hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children as their families fragment. Soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work. Overstimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive, to keep the TV, VCR, CDs, the PCs going constantly in their home, and to see if that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with God. Fill the coffee tables and magazines, newspapers, pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day, invade their driving moments with billboards, flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalog, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter, promotional offering, free products, services, and false hope. Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them turn from their recreation exhausts that keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, movies. Keep them busy, busy, busy! And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip, small talk, so that they leave with trouble consciences. Crowd their lives with so many good causes that they have no time to seek power from God. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause. It will work! It will work! It was quite a plan. The demons went eagerly to their assignments, causing Christians everywhere to get busier and more rushed going here and there, having little time for God or their families, having no time to tell others about the power of God to change lives. I guess the question is, has the devil been successful at his scheme? You be the judge. Does busy mean being under Satan's yoke? B-U-S-Y. Quite a sobering little essay there.

The how to live, the way to live, the way to eat, the way to drink, the way to talk, the way to walk, the way to spend time has been left for children to learn by their peers. They've been sucked into a vortex of a world that has lost its way. When you get trapped in the vortex of a raging river, it's almost impossible to escape. The vortex is swirling, the current is swift. You virtually have to fight with all your energy to keep from drowning. The forces that surround the vortex are too strong to overcome on your own. You almost always need someone to throw you a lifeline. We're going to throw out some lifelines here today, and it will be between you and God as to whether or not you grab hold and save yourself from this untoward generation. Let's note the words of the Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost in 31 A.D. in Acts 2. Here at the conclusion of Peter's inspired sermon, they were so pricked in their hearts, convicted of what Peter had been saying, that they cried out this cry of, men and brethren, what shall we do? So let's pick it up in Acts, I don't know what I said, but Acts 2. I may have said Peter, I'm not sure. In Acts 2 and verse 36.

Therefore, let the house of Israel know assuredly that God had made that same Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for their mission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, other nations, Gentiles, even as many as the Lord or God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort them, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. In other words, you need to throw yourself a lifeline. Don't wait for somebody else to throw it to you, because you can do it yourself if you call upon God. You can't do it of your own power, but you can call upon God and ask Him, ask God in Christ, to throw you the lifeline and save you from this untoward generation and learn how to live and to be a productive, successful citizen and Christian in a world that has totally lost its way. Then they that gladly received the word were baptized, and that same day they were added 3,000 people to the church. Will you gladly receive the words of life today, or will you continue to fall into the categories of the generations of our day that are read about in Proverbs? As we stated last week, people need structure and a routine in their lives. It gives them a sense of security and stability. They need a routine to help them learn responsibility. Growing up, my parents had a routine that I could absolutely count on that I talked about last week. I also had a routine. My father, my mother, my brother, and I, we did this, and we knew what to expect. God is looking for men and women, boys and girls, to stand in the gap today before His Second Coming, to be ready for that Second Coming and to help others to be ready. God is looking for parents who are willing to provide sacrificial love to their families, and God is looking for people who will give themselves up so others can grow and succeed. God is looking for boys and girls who courageously seek to honor their parents and their Heavenly Father. Wouldn't that be a novelty in our world today? Hopefully we have a congregation filled with such young people.

But more importantly, God is looking for people young and old to have a relationship with Him.

Do you have time set aside each day to talk with your Heavenly Father, to talk to your children so they can share with you what is going on in their lives? Do you know what they're thinking? Do you know what their hopes, goals, and dreams are? And do you set aside a time so you can share with them the principles and the wisdom of the ages? This would include Bible study, study of principles drawn from various disciplines. God is looking for you and I to stand in the gap in such a time as this. We must direct our teaching in a very relevant and personal way to what is happening with youth in our world. We need to understand how attitudes are formed, the role of the peer group, parents, media, and forming attitudes and behavior of our children.

So how can we teach youth to see and understand the purpose of life?

That leads me to this question some ask about quite often. That is the last two verses of the Old Testament. So what do you think about and what do you think of when you read the last two verses of the Old Testament? Let's go there to Malachi chapter 4. We used to hear sermons on this quite often, especially in the days of what was called back on the track days in the early 80s. You don't hear much about this anymore, but let's note it in Malachi 4 verse 5.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. Now, all prophecy is important, but this one is imperative. You know, some people, when they think of prophecy, they think of, they just think of warning the world about the cataclysmic events that are about to occur on the face of the earth and get ready for those cataclysmic events. Or some think only of, well, preparing the bride of Christ for the marriage supper. But we have to think in a conclusive way and not leave anything out. Of course, the emblem and the seal of the United Church of God is preparing a people and preaching the gospel.

If this work is not done, according to this, God says, I will come and smite the earth with a curse.

One might say, well, the whole world is going to experience the wrath of God, regardless of what we do. And the attitude of some is, the sooner the better. If you ever read that verse in Amos, I'm not going to turn there, that talks about, woe unto those who desire the day of the Lord, for it is a day of darkness, of gloominess, of terrible destruction. You know, I would like to be spared from that day.

And not to say, well, I hope God delays his coming in sending Jesus Christ, but it's not a day that's going to be that easy, that's for sure.

Some religious groups and some people who attend Sabbath keeping congregations view these last two verses of Malachi in the past tense, saying the Elijah work has already been done. If the Elijah work has already been done, if we have indeed turned the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, why is it that we see so many young people go their own way as soon as they have opportunity to get out from under the roof and table of their parents? If the Elijah work has been done, why do parents spend less and less time with their families?

If the Elijah work has been done, why do we see a general lack of zeal and commitment in the body of Christ? As members of the body of Christ, we've been called out to bring people into a relationship with our Heavenly Father. John the Baptist fulfilled his mission. He did the work of Elijah. You notice his prophecy, Malachi 3, verse 1, 1 Behold, I will send my messenger. He shall prepare the way before me. This is preparing the way for the first advent, the first coming of Jesus Christ.

And the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant. That's Jesus Christ, whom you delight in. Behold, he shall come, says the Lord of hosts. Now quickly to Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1, we see that John did come on the scene. John the Baptist, Mark 1, 1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, which shall prepare the way before you, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord, make his path straight.

John did baptize in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance for their mission of sins. So John the Baptist came on the scene in the spirit and power of Elijah, as he had been prophesied to do. Luke chapter 1. Forward to Luke chapter 1. John the Baptist's father was in the Levitical priesthood. Zacharias was his name. He was serving in his course. He and his wife Elizabeth were childless. They hadn't had a child. They had prayed and prayed to have a child, but now they were old and it didn't seem like it would be possible for them to have a child.

While he was serving in his course, an angel appeared to him in Luke 1 verse 13. The angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for your prayers heard, and your wife Elizabeth shall bear a son. You shall call his name John. You shall have joy, and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth, for he shall be great in the sight of the Lord. He shall drink neither wine or strong drink. He shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.

So one of the aspects of doing the work of Elijah is turning people to God, to our heavenly Father, and to the promises of the fathers, the patriarchs. The promises were made first to Abraham, passed on to Isaac, to Jacob, and the prophets proclaimed the promises through the decades, yea, even the centuries to the time of Jesus Christ, and to the days of John the Baptist.

He shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Hence, that's a part of the seal of the United Church of God.

How successful have we been at that? You know, if we were to measure it objectively, I don't think we would be all that pleased. Of course, we can always make various excuses. The zeitgeist of the times is just so tough, so difficult. We're caught up in this world, the world that Satan and his demons, they had a convention and they said, here's how to do it, and they've done it.

And we think somehow that's okay. And Zacharias said unto the angel, whereby shall I know this, for I am an old man, and my wife, well stricken in years. And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, the messenger angel, that stood in the presence of God, and am sent to speak unto you, and to show you glad tidings. So the sign would be you won't be able to speak until this is done.

And so, it was. Now in Matthew 11, Matthew 11 and verse 11, Jesus Christ himself said that John the Baptist had done this work. Matthew 11 and verse 11, Verily I say unto you among those that are born of women, there is not risen a greater than John the Baptist, notwithstanding he that is least, least in the kingdom of heaven, is greater than he.

And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets, all the prophets in the law, prophesied until John, and if you will receive it, this is Elijah, which was to come. If you will receive it, the words that I'm speaking today, they are similar to the same words that John the Baptist spoke when he spoke to the people of his day. They're similar to the words that the Elijah, the Old Testament prophet, spoke to Israel in his day. If you will receive it, no one can make you receive it. It's up to you. It's between you and God.

If you will receive it, this is Elijah, which was to come. He that hath an ear to hear, and let him hear. Further, in Matthew 17, Matthew 17 and verse 10, this is on the heels of the Transfiguration where Jesus took James and John. They went up onto the mount called the Mount of Transfiguration, and in a vision, it was Peter, James, and John, they saw Moses and Elijah.

Pick it up in verse 10. And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elijah must first come? They saw him in a vision as if, you know, he was in the kingdom of God, I suppose you would say. And Jesus answered and said to them, Elijah truly shall first come and restore all things. But I say unto you that Elijah is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him, whatsoever they would. Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them. You know, people treated John the Baptist very poorly. They treated Jesus Christ very poorly. Finally, Herod had John the Baptist beheaded because John the Baptist told him what the truth really is. That is, it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. You know, we have people who think that the way to get people to really make a commitment to the church is to soft talk them into somehow into a commitment. I read in the Bible where it says, Preach the Word, be instant, end season, out of season, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering. But the message is to preach the Word, and for all of us to read the Word in Acts chapter 3. In Acts chapter 3, in verse 21, when will this culmination of the total work of Elijah be done? Well, it would be done through Jesus Christ and the saints at the time of the restitution of all things that we read here in Acts 3.21. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go.

I'm reading chapter 4. In Acts 3.21, whom the heaven must receive, that is Jesus Christ, until the times of restitution of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. So do you want to be involved in the work of Elijah, preparing people for the second coming of Jesus Christ? Do you want to be involved in the work of preparing your children, of turning your children to the hearts of the fathers? Are you involved in turning your heart to the children?

See, Jesus fulfilled what was written in the prophets.

And the final fulfillment comes at the restitution of all things. We've been called for such a time as this to prepare a people for the second coming of Christ, to continue preaching the good news of the coming kingdom of God. We've been called to sonship and the family of God. Families are all about relationships. Families are all about relationships. Relationships require time to build. The mere fact that parents bring forth children and provide for their physical needs does not necessarily mean that they have a relationship with their children. And so many parents say, well, don't you look at all the things that I've done for you. You know, I've given you all of these things.

And as the saying goes, I didn't want things. I wanted you. I never had you. I had things.

And really, you cannot buy intimate relationships.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't give good gifts or anything like that. But relationships are built in a different way. And even families who eat together on rare occurrence, which is a rare occurrence, too many families don't necessarily have a relationship with each other. They sit there. You watch people in restaurants. And I watch them. And they may sit the whole meal and not say a word to each other. And that's more and more a common occurrence. The foundation of all lasting relationships is love, the kind of love described in the Bible, the kind of love that God had for us. God's loved the world. He gave His only begotten Son. Notice in John 15, Christ states that the greatest love is laying down our lives for our friends. Now, what this means in a day-by-day application, it doesn't necessarily mean to go give your life and be killed in some kind of heroic action, but sacrificial love, where day-by-day self-ex crucified and you're laying down your life. In Matthew, I'm sorry, John 15. John 15, verse 13.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knows not what his Lord does, but I have called you friends for all things that I've heard of my father, all things I've heard of my father, all things I've heard of my father. You talk about communication, the Word of God. In fact, he was the Word, as you know, he's a living Word in the flesh.

All things I've heard of my father I've made known unto you.

Communication, of course, is another basis of relationship. So you've got love, you've got communication. It should be apparent that God and Christ have extended sacrificial love to us. That is, they gave up their most precious possessions, so we might live. Our loving Heavenly Father gave his only Son. Jesus spent much time teaching his disciples how to live and how to communicate the words of life to others.

Let's go to Ephesians 5, verse 25.

Ephesians 5, verse 25.

Paul gives us a dual application in Ephesians, that is, Ephesians 5, that is sacrificial love.

In Ephesians 5, 23, the husband is ahead of the wife, even as Christ is ahead of the church. But what price did Christ pay to be the head of the church? And what price do we need to pay as husbands to be head of the wife?

Therefore, as the church is subject under the Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands and everything. Husbands love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Sacrificial love. He laid down his life that we might live. So family members must be willing to give themselves up for the sake of other family members. Time is the substance that life is made of. We have so much time, and none of us know how much time any one of us has. And we must devote time to building family relationships. If we hope to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, the hearts of the children of the fathers, you have to do it spending time and building the relationship, and especially communication. Satan, the god of this present evil age, has developed a consumer-crazed society that desires more and more. Once again, I remind you that Paul says in Ecclesiastes 3.5 that covetousness is idolatry. Peter warned that the time would come when our children would be under a curse because of the sinful and covetous practices of the people. Let's go there to 2 Peter.

In 2 Peter 2, 2 Peter catalogs, basically in 2 Peter 2, the great sinners through the ages, the angels, Noah's world, Sodom and Gomorrah. He tells us if he spared not the angels, is he going to spare those who disobey him now?

So, we somewhat break in on the thought here, but I've given you a little bit of the background of chapter 2. 2 Peter 2. Verse 10, But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise government. Nobody going to tell me what to do? You know, I'm living a free country. I'm 18. I'm all of 18. I am my own person. I'll do what I want to do.

Presumptious are they, self-willed. They're not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Oh, no, no one's afraid to speak evil of dignities today. Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord. But these as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed speak evil of the things they understand not and shall utterly perish in their own corruption and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime, spots they are in blemishes sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you. So is not necessarily talking about people outside having eyes full of adultery. And the proper translation here is having eyes of an adulteress. Yeah, the eyes of an adulteress are what they are. It is a seductive hard kind of look that you see on the magazine covers that you check out at HEB, at Kroger, at Randalls, or any other grocery store, convenience store that you want to name the people who are on the covers there, the look, the posture, the whole bit. It says, come on, come on, you know, come on, I'm ready for action. Are you? And if you aren't, here's how. Open the cover of this magazine, you'll discover how to be sexually romantic, attractive, stay young, lose 110 pounds overnight, and all the various things that go with it. And you can live in a perpetual state of adolescence. You can be a teenager all your life.

Now, how stupid are people? You can't be a teenager all your life.

Having eyes of an adulteress that cannot cease from sin, beguiling, unstable souls and heart, they have exercised, and a better translation here is trained. They've been trained, they've been conditioned with covetous practices. Why do you think those magazines are there at the checkout counter with those various poses? Do they ever sell one? Well, you bet they do. Having children of curse. A curse on our children, and we have brought it on, which have forsaken the right way, are gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Bozor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, but was rebuked for his iniquity, the dumbass speaking with man's voice, forbade the madness of the prophet.

Somehow, and it's really no secret, Satan has deceived people into believing that they can stay young and beautiful, and all of that goes with that, that you see in the advertising world, that you can have everything now. You don't have to pay for it. Well, as they say, the chickens are coming home to roost, and we're seeing what's happening, the financial scene. You would turn to Isaiah 3.12. If you were to be asked today, what have more tears been shed over than anything else in the past hundred years? Would it be World War I? Would it be the Great Depression of the 1930s? Would it be World War II, Korea, Vietnam, or the current wars? What would it be? Would it be the death of various loved ones? You know, in the death of a loved one, there is some closure. You go through the grieving process, and then you go on. But when it comes to family problems, problems with children, when it comes to families breaking up, when it comes to all kinds of problems that I'll list, then I won't list, really. You can list them. These are the things that causes so many tears.

Isaiah 3.12, that's for my people, children, their oppressors, women rule over them. O my people, they who lead you cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths. Why are the children the oppressors? Why do women rule over them? It is because the fathers have advocated their responsibility and are not doing the work in any way part and parcel of doing the work of Elijah, of turning their hearts to the children and the hearts of the children to them. You know, we grew up in a world in the United States in which we come in. Here's a giant wilderness before us, and it is filled with all kinds of enemies from the climate to the geography to hostile tribes. And so we've got to go push across the continent and build a new world, as it were. So we built the roads, the railways, and all the various infrastructure.

And then when it came to the spiritual things, the moral things, now, are we going to have a church in this community? Are we going to have a school? Guess who led the way there? The women. Who led the way in family communication, generally? The women. You know, a lot of guys think that the mark of a man is the way he can grunt.

If he gets a couple of grunts in response today, he's really made progress.

John Wayne kind of thing. Though John did a lot more talking than most men do today.

And oftentimes those that do all the talking, it's empty talk anyhow.

So do you know how to live? You might immediately reply, oh yes, I know how to live. Didn't Solomon sum it up? Keep the commandments. Fear God, that's the whole duty of man.

And one could say this is the sum of the matter. But all sums are derived from more than one entry in the ledger. The ledger of life consists of many entries. The ledger of life consists of many entries. We are physical beings who engage in physical activities. Some of them are necessary for survival, some are not. Some choices bring us enjoyment, some bring us pain. We're admonished to take care of our bodies since they are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are mental beings who engage in mental activities of thinking, planning, and meditating. We can also imagine, we can fantasize, project our feelings or emotions.

But we cannot exercise God's Spirit if we don't properly direct our thoughts and feelings. These feelings or emotions can range from love to hate and rage, that can do others great good or great harm. Let's go to Proverbs 25, verse 28. Proverbs 25 and verse 28.

In Proverbs 25, verse 28, He that hath rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken. He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls. They say that one out of every ten Americans has some form of mental illness. The psychological facilities are basically filled in this country, psychological, psychiatric, leading cause of death among those under 30, suicide. Most of the time, sometimes they say it's automobile accidents. No rule over the spirit. Now back in Proverbs 16, 32, how important is it? How great will you be if you can rule over your spirit?

It's very difficult to rule over your spirit without relationships with other beings that are deep, that are meaningful, that are built on solid, firm principles, a relationship with God. Proverbs 16, 32, he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty. He that rules his spirit than he that takes the city.

We're social beings. We engage in social activities. Social activities have to do with human beings living together, interacting with one another. The English word social comes from the Latin word socius, which means companion. A companion is one who associates with you or accompanies you. Your closest companions should be family members, husband, wife, father, mother, brother, sister, parents, children. But Satan has created a generation gap and most youth now view their friends as closer companions than their parents. If a problem arises generally with most teenagers, who is told first? Mother, daddy, or one of their what they call friends?

Why do they think this way? It is simple. They know their friends will not correct them generally. They will accept them and cover for them and justify their actions.

You know, there are three basic unconverted responses to sin. To hide, as Adam and Eve did all three of these, hide, blame, justify. Whereas God wants us to repent.

Every person needs some kind of support system. And if children don't find it at home, they'll find it somewhere else. It may not be good for them, but they'll find it somewhere.

You know, one of the principal things that all of us should strive to do is found in Hebrews 10 verse 25.

I don't think we realize how much we can mean to one another. How much parents can mean to children. How much children can mean to parents.

In Hebrews 10 and verse 25, There's no question that we can draw strength from one another. A person might say, oh, I can get more out of the Sabbath day by staying at home and studying my Bible. I can get closer to God out on the lake in nature than I can in that church. But I can't get more out of the Sabbath day by staying at home and studying my Bible. I can get closer to God out on the lake in nature than I can in that church.

I'm through with organized religion. Well, have a little dose of disorganized religion.

Disorganized religion, I don't think, has borne much fruit.

But notice the focus on I. I can do this. I can do that. Now, we're going to do the Elijah work and turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, the hearts of the children to the fathers. We have to give up self and set the example in building relationships with a brethren. And, of course, we have to engage in spiritual activities. There are two spiritual fathers, as it were, in the universe. Of course, there is God the Father, and there is Satan the Devil. Look at John 8, verse 44.

One spiritual father, God the Father, is responsible for you being here. You wouldn't have life if he hadn't created Adam and Eve and set the laws of reproduction and regeneration in process and progress. Satan the Devil, on the other hand, is the enemy of life, and he is referred to as a father here.

John 8, 44, Jesus speaking to the detractors of his day, You are of your father the devil, and the lust of your fathers you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, or he is a liar and the father of it. So we can ask ourselves, who is really our father? Each one of us projects what we might call a good spirit or a bad spirit. This is often referred to as attitude. You just sort of look at a person and say, well, you know, they're in a bad attitude. Look at the look. One of the reasons why the prophet Daniel was given such great favor by kings, these are pagan kings, was the fact that he was of an excellent spirit. Notice Daniel 5 verse 12. Daniel 5 verse 12. You know, Daniel had gone through all kinds of things and all kinds of tests.

In Daniel 5 verse 12.

For as much as an excellent spirit is breaking in on the thought, no one could interpret the vision that Belthas Shazzar had. So the Queen Mother said, how about Daniel? He's been out of the limelight for a long time. Why don't you call on him? For as much as an excellent spirit and knowledge and understanding interpreting of dreams and showing of hard sentences, dissolving of doubt for found in the same Daniel whom the king named Belthas Shazzar, now let Daniel be called and he will show the interpretation. Now in Daniel 6 and Daniel chapter 6 verse 3.

This is where Daniel is cast into the lion's den.

Then Daniel was preferred among the presidents and princes because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king thought to set him over the whole ramp. Of course, they hatched a plot to get him thrown in the lion's den because of that. But it shows how valuable a right spirit is. So what does all of this have to do with learning how to live? It is quite elementary. All the facets of our beings have to be educated, trained, and disciplined to respond in the way that glorifies God and reflects light and hope to those around us. Without this education, without this training, we are merely pawns on the chessboard of life being shuffled about on the board by the circumstances of life that surround us. This is analogous to a circus animal that is conditioned to respond to the trainer, to his handler in the circus ring.

If someone pulls our chain, we respond as we've been conditioned to respond. If anyone says anything bad about me, I'm going to say something bad about him. If he hits me, I'm going to hit him.

But parents have the responsibility of bringing up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Let's look at that in Ephesians 6. Here we see the dual responsibility, the responsibility of parents to children and the responsibility of children to parents. Let's read the children part first.

In Ephesians 6, verse 1, Children obey your parents. That's pretty plain. Children obey your parents.

One of the reasons why children don't obey their parents today is because we don't nurture them. We don't discipline them. That's what that word nurture means. We don't discipline them in the right way and educate them in the right way to have respect and to learn right from wrong. Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.

Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise.

One of the things that that kept me going in all of my life is that I never wanted to bring dishonor on my father or my mother because I saw the sacrifices that they made for my brother and I and it was unbelievable. The things that they did, I never wanted to dishonor them. That's not to say that I didn't make a lot of mistakes because I did and paid the price. But at the same time, the intent was and striving to honor them that it may be well with them that they may live long on the earth. And you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And this word nurture here is derived from the Greek word paideia, which means discipline.

Paideia means discipline.

Bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord. Discipline doesn't mean sometimes we think of discipline. We say, okay, here's your discipline. We're going to give you five swats. Now, discipline has to do with setting the rules, teaching the rules, and then educating about the rules, the benefits of living by the principles of success, the laws of success, and if then you break it, then punishment as administered because you broke the discipline, the rules. Bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord. The Lord. A baby begins to bond with his or her mother from the instant of birth. If mother sends out the right signals, the baby feels secure, safe, and loved. If there is any sense of rejection on the part of the mother or the father, it will be perceived by the infant. Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, of course, for a for a young person, a woman, and there's always been somewhat of a double standard, to get pregnant out of wedlock was just the worst thing, a disgrace. And a lot of these mothers were sent to what was called foundling homes, and there they would have their baby, and as soon as they had their baby, they oftentimes it would be adopted out somebody else. A lot of these babies died.

A lot of these babies died from a condition called, I believe it's called, morasmus, in which if there is not this sense of security and warmth and this cuddling and this hugging and loving and sharing of affection between mother and child, some of these children actually died.

We imprint the behavior of our parents in the development stages of life. We all imitate our parents. We learn to eat as they eat, dress as they dress, keep house as they keep house, to be orderly or disorderly. To be clean as they're clean, to be courteous as they're courteous, to be outgoing as they're outgoing, to be critical as they're critical, to be encouraging as they are encouraging, to be negative as they're in negative. To show affection as they show affection, to pout as they pout, to curse as they curse, to show our emotions as they show their emotions, to think as they think, to talk as they talk, to walk as they walk. I can notice myself at times clearing my throat. It sounds just like my daddy.

We all imprint that behavior. The phenomenon of bonding and imitating the parents is perhaps the strongest and strangest drive in living creatures. Orphan kittens placed with a female dog will bond with her. There are even geese that have bonded with mammals. As we begin to interact with others in various social settings, such as playing with the neighborhood children, going to the park, going to school, we react to others as we do in the family setting.

So, indeed, the family is a fabric of society. When the family unravels, so does society. So you would say today, the family has unraveled.

So, once again, I ask you, do you know how to live? It seems to me that if we know how to live, we would have a plan for living. So, let's, once again, as we did in the sermon on a plan for growth, take a quick inventory to see where we are.

Do you have any definite activity planned within the next week for you and your wife, or for you and your family? Any plan? Well, I guess you might be going bowling tonight. I'm in two weeks from now, I guess you might be going to the church picnic. But do you have plans that the church has not planned? What about communication? Oh, let's talk about that.

How do you talk to your wife? How does your wife talk to you? How do you talk to your children, and how do they talk to you? So, let's talk about how people express themselves today, and what does the Bible have to say about communication? Before we show some of the ways that people talk to each other today, let's see what the Bible says. Turn, please, to Hebrews 13 and verse 13.

Hebrews 13 and verse 13.

Let us go forth, therefore, unto him, without the camp, bearing his reproach, speaking of Christ, who gave everything for us. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his names, but to do good and to communicate, forget not. For with such sacrifice is God as well, please. Not a grunt here or there, not a yay, a yah, most of it, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, if you can get a good yah, that's, I guess, progress in some quarters.

Now, what about the power of communication? God says, do good and communicate, forget not. With such sacrifices he's well, please. Notice Proverbs 18, 21.

Let's go to these scriptures rather quickly here. Proverbs 18, verse 21.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. You want to cut people up with your tongue? Well, one of these days you'll be cut up.

Now, let's notice specific instructions in Ephesians 5. What about the New Testament? Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5.1.

Be therefore followers of God as dear children.

Walk in love as Christ also has loved us. We've talked about that as giving himself sacrificial love for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling saver. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you as become saints, neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting. Now, this jesting has to do with saying these kind of snide remarks in which the person is left to wonder, well, what do they mean by that? Did they really mean that? Why did he say that? Is that the way he really feels about me or she really feels about me? And maybe the person who said, oh, I was just joking.

You know, the old sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. That one's not true.

The words are the things that go down into the innermost parts of a very heart and soul of a person.

One of the places where I became the head football coach in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the jesting, the foolishness, and this was quite a number of years ago, was so bad that that was one of the main things that we had to overcome to be a team.

It was so stupid. But the world is filled with that today. And we have husbands and wives, and we have children talking to each other in such a way that it makes the skin crawl, as it were.

It says, don't let filthiness nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. For this, you know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ or of God.

In Britain, schoolchildren are using the F-word so much in school that one school set a limit on how many times a day you could use it. I think it's 25. I mean, they're openly saying it all over the playground. Of course, children don't go to the playground very often anymore. It's inside, especially in England. I think it's 25 times a day. After that, you may experience some kind of discipline.

The movies are filled with filthy, foul language. The film writers are quick to say, we're reflecting the language of the people. This is the way they talk. If they're using the F-word, they're taking... In the movies, if they're not using that, they're taking the name of God in vain. All of this talk destroys sacredness, holiness, and turns everything into the profane, ungodly talk. So be careful how you speak to one another. Be courteous. Be kind.

Let your conversation be seasoned with grace. Notice Col. 4-6. Just forward a little bit.

We'll see that verse. Col. 4 and verse 6. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt. Salt gives it a good taste, brings out the flavor. That you may know how you ought to answer every man.

Are we making memories for our children? Do we have any definite plans for a family outing? Do you have any definite plans to sit on the front porch or any place and just relax with them for a few minutes each day? Do you have plans for a father-son or mother-daughter outing? Do you have any plans for having anyone over to your home? Do you have any definite plans for exercising your body? Do you have any definite plans for improving your mental ability, such as reading books, taking classes? Do you have any definite plans for growing spiritually, such as mastering certain books of the Bible? Do you have a plan or structure of some kind to teach your children the great principles of life? Do you have definite plans for growing emotionally, so that you will demonstrate an excellent spirit like Daniel? Do you have a life or are you just reacting to life?

If not, let's determine today that we're going to learn how to live. We're going to develop a structure and a routine for our lives so we can communicate stability and responsibility to our mates and children. We're going to communicate and interact with family members. We're going to study, pray, and obey. Really, there's no other way, as they say. We're going to teach our children in word and in deed. We're going to stop using the I-don't-have-time excuse for avoiding the great responsibilities and opportunities that we have with our children to bring them up in the discipline and the fear of our loving Heavenly Father. Children be gone before you know it. Been there, done that. I know.

One of the greatest lessons I've learned is life is short.

It is almost like a blink.

We're going to set aside time for recreation and just enjoying God's great creation and life itself.

We're going to continue to grow and really learn how to live in such a way that it's pleasing to God.