He has been to heaven, he shall rise and sing.
He, my beautiful one, Jesus, will you come with me?
Let me show you the world.
Breathe it, breathe it, let me breathe it.
Let me show you the world.
Let me tell you the world.
You should let me see.
Keep talking and hold on.
Jesus, we're bringing back the King.
We are not in the way of Jesus.
Amen.
Let's go to Frank Wallace.
Thank you, Lord, Father, God, for the day,
and for the morning, and for the blessings, and for the Lord,
and for our Father, and for our blessed Father.
Thank you, Jesus.
Amen.
Thank you, brother.
Let's start by him.
That's a song number 18.
Song number 18.
We take the name of Jesus with us.
Song number 18.
We take the name of Jesus with you.
Travel somewhere new.
In the joy of God forever.
Take him where ever you are.
We take the name of Jesus with us.
We take the name of Jesus with you.
We take the name of Jesus.
Lord, graciously hold us free.
Hope for worth and joy of heaven,
graciously hold us free.
Hope for worth and joy of heaven,
keep the name of Jesus ever.
As the shield of man is clear,
in temptations round together,
free from all which we prepare,
graciously hold us free.
Hope for worth and joy of heaven,
graciously hold us free.
Hope for worth and joy of heaven,
for now the gracious name of Jesus
will be found in Jesus' holy throne.
When his love becomes deceivers
and his sons are totally born,
graciously hold us free.
Hope for worth and joy of heaven,
graciously hold us free.
Hope for worth and joy of heaven,
for now the gracious name of Jesus
will be found in Jesus' holy throne.
Keep the kingdom and the heaven,
when your journey is complete,
graciously hold us free.
Hope for worth and joy of heaven,
for now the gracious name of Jesus
will be found in Jesus' holy throne.
Hope for worth and joy of heaven,
for now the gracious name of Jesus
will be found in Jesus' holy throne.
We'll be back here tonight and then again on Thursday night
at seven going through Acts chapter number nine.
We've got the song schedule there and of course Happy Father's Day
to all the fathers in attendance.
And we've got the popcorn and root beer floats ready to go after the service.
Of course everyone's welcome to have one.
You have the mega conference schedule up in Tempe below that.
Rides are available for the Wednesday night services
and will depart promptly at five.
So we'll get a sign up sheet here probably next Sunday.
But if that's something you want to do, start thinking about that.
And I'll be taking the church band up there
so you're more than welcome to hitch a ride with me on Wednesdays.
On the back we have a couple of soul winning excursions
there to Payson next week, the Navajo reservation the week following.
And it's still kind of a ways out but if you wanted to go
there is a missions trip planned to St. Lucia on September 17th through the 23rd.
So this is a longer trip and if you want to go to this
just come speak with me and I'll get you more details.
But it's obviously a great, a lot of, the Caribbean has been very receptive
and if you can get there I highly recommend it.
And of course we've got the announcements about the birthday donuts
coming up in a few weeks.
That will do it for announcements.
Let's go ahead and sing one more song in front of the preaching this morning.
This is my song of 472.
This is my song of the world.
472.
This is my song of the world.
472.
This is my song of the world.
472.
This is my song of the world.
472.
This is my song of the world.
472.
This is my song of the world.
472.
This is my mother's room.
472.
The birds their carols play.
472.
The morning light the really white.
472.
This is my mother's room.
472.
The birds their carols play.
472.
The
birds their carols play.
472.
This is my mother's room.
472.
The birds their carols play.
472.
The birds their carols play.
472.
This is my mother's room.
472.
The birds their carols play.
472.
The birds their carols play.
472.
The birds their carols play.
At this time, I'll pass it over to Blake.
As Blake goes around, let's open up our Bibles
to Proverbs chapter 17.
In Proverbs chapter 17, as always,
we read the entire chapter.
Please follow up silently for the games
that are raised to us from Proverbs chapter 17.
Proverbs chapter 17.
In Proverbs chapter 17, verse 1 of our Bibles,
better the dry moisture will quieten us their wit
than the house will satisfy us with its strife.
A wise servant shall rule over a son who causes shame,
who shall impart the inheritance among the brethren.
The vine cottages are silver in reference to gold,
for the Lord tries to harvest.
A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips,
and a liar who is dear should not have come.
Who so lawfully poor will cross the nation,
for he that bled calamities shall not be replenished.
Children's children are the crown of old men,
and the glory of children are the problem.
An excellent speech becomes not a fool,
much less be lying lips of prints.
A gift is a destruction stone,
and the eyes of them that happen,
whithersoever are turning, or prospering.
He that covereth a transgression seeketh love,
and he that repeateth the matter,
which seperates its very price.
A reproof entereth more into a wise house,
than a hundred shrines to a fool.
An evil man seeketh only his belly,
and therefore a cruel messenger
shall be sent against him.
Let a bearer rob him of wealth,
and he a man, rather than a fool, to scald him.
Who so reward evil for good,
evil shall not depart from his house.
The beginning of strife is as when
one leteth out water,
and therefore leave off the tension
before it be met with them.
He that justifieth the wicked,
he that condemneth the just,
even they both are abominations of glory.
Wherefore is there a price
in the hand of the fool to get wisdom,
seeing he hath no heart to it.
A friend loveth at all times,
and a brother is born for adversity.
A man who would, in understanding,
strike his hands,
and become a chariot of the presence of his friend.
He loveth transgression, and loveth strife,
and he that exulteth his gaze,
seeming destruction.
He that hath a forward heart,
hath it no good,
and he that hath it the first come,
calleth his permission.
He that beget the fool,
doeth it to his sorrow,
for the father of the fool hath no joy.
A merry heart doeth good,
but the medicine,
but a broken spirit drags his bones.
A wicked man hath taken the gift,
of the bosom,
to revert the way of his judgment.
Wisdom is before him,
and hath to understand him,
with the eyes of the fool,
by the ends of the earth.
A foolish son hath grieved to his father,
with bitterness to her that bare him.
Also, to put his adjust,
is not good,
nor to strike princes for effort.
He that hath knowledge,
spareth his words,
and a man of understanding,
is of the next best spirit.
Even the fool,
when he hold his peace,
is kind of wise.
He that shut his lips,
is esteemed a man of understanding.
Brother Adam, would you pray for us?
Amen.
And then the shortcomings ahead, I mean, you have to be able to do that, to help that and to do that.
The cost of learning through a balance of time.
You have to have that.
You have to be a father.
You have to help your grandmother, your grandmother, your mom.
You have to be a father.
The important thing is that you're a father and you're doing it.
That's the intent.
And you go through that part on here.
You have to be a father.
I'm not saying that it's a father that's crying at all.
He's real good.
He's awesome.
I will truly give it a try.
On my last show last night,
I was thinking of the story,
and why it certainly is,
and the work that it's done.
You can show it.
And of course, if you think of it,
if you're not thinking of the work that you're going to do,
play it on the father list,
I mean, he's real good.
Not only is he protective,
not only does God protect the father list,
but God ultimately makes him a father.
First, he is our father.
First.
In fact, you see here in the middle,
God was first a nation.
The people are not our fathers.
It's a sign that he is first.
He's a friend.
He's not our father.
He's a friend.
He's a father.
God says you need to be the saint.
But I'll also point this out.
It is a curse to be fatherless.
Now I'm not saying if you didn't have a dad that somehow you're under that God cursed you.
But just fatherless in general is a form of a curse on the nation.
I believe that.
Look at Psalm 109 verse 6.
This is a preparatory prayer of David.
Set thou a wicked man over him and let Satan stand at his right hand.
Now I've been mad at some people from time to time.
But I don't know that I've ever prayed a prayer like that.
Set thou a wicked man over him and set Satan at his right hand.
That's a pretty strong curse.
So he's really cursing this person.
But he doesn't stop there.
You'd think, man, he kind of peaked there, right?
Look at verse 9.
Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.
Now, again, he's cursing somebody.
He's saying, let Satan stand at his right hand.
What's another way you can curse him?
What else could I come up with?
What other way could I try to curse this person?
Oh, I know.
Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.
Look, being without a father is a curse, the Bible says.
I mean, isn't that what we're reading?
This is a curse.
And he's saying, here's one way you can curse him, Lord.
Let them be fatherless.
Let his children be fatherless.
Look at verse 12.
Let there be none to extend mercy unto him,
neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children.
That's a hard saying.
If you would, go over to Isaiah, chapter 9.
I'll further prove this point.
That when we see a nation that is being afflicted with fatherless children,
what we're looking at is a nation that is under the curse of God.
By the way, that's the nation you're living in.
Hello?
If you look there in Isaiah, chapter 9, look at verse 15.
The ancient and the honorable, he is the head,
and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.
So he's talking about corrupt leaders.
The prophets, the politicians, the elders,
those that are in power, those that are steering the nation,
they teach lies.
The leaders of this people cause them to err,
and they that are led of them are destroyed.
Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men,
neither shall he have mercy on their fatherless and widows.
God says they're going to be fatherless, and I'm just going to leave them that way.
When a nation goes wicked, when the leadership is corrupted,
when they begin to prophesy lies, when they're trying to destroy God's people,
when they start to commit abomination, God gives up on the fatherless.
He says it's a curse unto you.
I mean, that's what I'm reading. That's how I see it.
There's certainly nothing good about being fatherless.
There's nothing good about a broken home.
And I know we all want to glorify the single mother,
and I'm not against mothers that are in that position,
and God have mercy on them, and I know it's a struggle.
You know, I'm sick and tired of single moms being glorified as,
you know, that's what we should strive for in this country. It's not.
What we should be striving for is families with a mom and a dad
that stay together and raise godly children and set them up for success in life
and not to be preyed upon by the workers of iniquity in this world.
That should be the gold standard, and yet it's completely backwards today.
It's the family that's mocked. It's the family that's ridiculed.
It's the dad that's held up like some stupid Homer Simpson,
just some bumbling buffoon, just, you know, tripping through life,
kind of clueless, doesn't really know, oh, isn't he funny?
Oh, dad, ha, ha, ha. No, dad is the most important person in this world.
He's holding up the family. He's holding together the fabric of society.
And when you start to bind that strong man, everything else unravels.
And I just think so many people today have just gone to sleep in this.
We're just so used to what we're being surrounded by.
We're so used to all the wickedness and abomination that's being flaunted
in front of our eyes, in the movies, in the music, up and down our streets,
in our schools, in every institution that we know,
just the most abominable filth that's just being pushed on us,
and we've just kind of gone to sleep.
And dads aren't protecting. Dads are out of the picture.
And God says it's a curse to be fatherless.
It's bondage. It's something that's going to set you at a disadvantage.
Fathers, you need to bring glory to your children.
Bring them to a place of honor in this world.
Don't let them fall prey to the wicked of this world.
Let me just give you some practical application this morning, if you would.
Go to Proverbs, chapter number 3.
You know, fathers need to bring their children to glory through instruction,
through being involved, through bringing them to a place of instruction,
by setting an example of godliness, by setting an example of righteousness,
by setting an example of a spiritual life,
of showing your children that there's more to life than just fun and games,
that life is hard, that life is work, that life requires discipline,
that life, you know, is a spiritual engagement that we're involved in.
You know, be in church. Read the Bible. Talk about it.
Go soul winning. Be that example.
Instruct them. The Bible says in Proverbs 13,
a wise son heareth his father's instruction, but a scorner heareth not rebuke.
And I'm just reading this to you. I know you're in Proverbs 3,
but he's saying there that a father's instruction is what a wise son will hear,
but a scorner heareth not rebuke.
You know, a lot of times, instruction of a dad is going to come in the form of rebuke.
You know, God, doesn't he look at us and say, you've fallen short of the glory of God.
Doesn't he say, don't we get some reproof from God?
Isn't God the standard that we all fall short of?
You know, dads need to set some standards, and when children fall short of it,
it needs to be pointed out and say, you didn't do good enough. You failed.
You need to try harder.
And I know that's not a popular message today.
I know, you know, a lot of children are just being coddled through life,
but that's not the world we live in.
We don't want to just, you know, baby and nurture and coddle our children into adulthood
so that they can go out there and work for somebody who couldn't give a rip about their feelings,
and when they mess up, they're just going to get fired.
You know, we need to teach our children that there are standards.
So therefore, you know, when we instruct our children, a lot of times there's going to be a rebuke.
It says in Proverbs 6, my son, keep thy father's commandment,
for the commandment is a lamp and the law is light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.
You know, instruction often comes in the way of a reproof, doesn't it?
You did it wrong, here's how to do it right.
And sometimes we need to instruct through negative reinforcement.
Sometimes just the commandment isn't enough.
Sometimes the words aren't enough.
You know why we're raising so many derelicts, you know why we're raising so many inconsiderate people,
you know why we're raising so many people that are just selfish and just putting others at risk,
that don't understand that there's consequences for their actions?
It's because they've never been taught that in the home.
And here's a real practical way to instruct your children, dad, through negative reinforcement, through spanking.
Look at Proverbs 3, verse 11.
My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction,
for whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth, even as the son in whom he delighteth.
The Bible says that God loves us, and we know that because he corrects us.
Because God loves us, he corrects us.
Even as the father and the son in whom he delighteth.
You know, if you delight in your son, if you really love your children, you'll correct them,
you'll instruct them, and yes, you will even spank them.
You know, I've gone back and forth on this.
I've thought about just having like a paddle day.
I've been meaning to make a nice plexiglass paddle for my home.
Because when they start to get to a certain size, you know, the ruler of the little plastic spoon just doesn't seem to cut it anymore.
Some of them have a little more spunk than others. Some are a little more stiff neck than others.
Some of them have that, you know, that foolishness bound in their heart just a little bit tighter than the others,
and we need to loosen it up with the rod of correction and drive it far from them.
And I've thought about maybe just having, just handing out paddles at church.
Every parent gets a paddle.
I wouldn't be the first Baptist church to do it.
I know another Baptist church that did it back in like the late 80's, early 90's,
and they went viral, like as viral as you could back then.
I mean CNN was showing up, they were in all the local newspapers,
over spanking your children.
Something that used to just be commonplace.
They used to do it in the schools.
There used to be a time in this country where you could beat other people's kids.
They called it the good old days.
But today, oh, I mean, that's, just saying that could get you in trouble.
When they're trying to pass all kinds of laws.
By the way, it is perfectly legal to spank your children.
Use it or lose it is what I say.
And use it or lose it is what I say.
Look at Proverbs 23, I should have had you go there, Proverbs 23.
I'll read to you from Proverbs 13 verse 24.
He that spareth his rod, hateth his son.
How are you going to bring your child to honor?
How are you going to bring your child to glory, dad?
Through the rod.
Because the rod is just a form of instruction.
You know, that's a good message to the children that maybe are experiencing this at home.
It's not that mom and dad hate you.
Actually, the Bible says the complete opposite. They love you.
They love you enough.
Do you think parents enjoy spanking their children?
I don't.
I don't get any satisfaction out of it.
And if I am, it's probably because I'm not doing it right and I'm doing it when I'm mad.
Spanking should never be, oh, I'm going to let me show you.
Spanking, there should be a whole series on spanking.
I praise God for the church I came up in because this was drilled into me.
I suffered not a woman to speak.
That's the only time you'll ever hear a woman's voice behind this pulpit.
That's when Siri pipes up.
But this was drilled into me.
Before I was even married.
And when I got married and had kids that just came to me, it was just as natural as rain to just start spanking.
And it worked.
Look at Proverbs 23 verse 13.
Withhold not correction from the child, if thou beatest him with the rod.
And it's not this little love tap on a diaper, folks.
Because some people think they're spanking when they're just, you know, they're hitting kids on the diaper.
One, I don't think you should ever use your hand to inflict physical pain on your children.
Okay? You shouldn't do that. You don't want them to fear this.
You want them to fear that paddle that's hanging on the fridge.
That's hanging on the very prominent place in the home so they're seeing it throughout the day.
Where it's always looming, the threat of if you step out of line, there will be consequences.
You know, and it might not be fun to come up that way sometimes, but you know what?
Then you're probably going to learn something that a lot of other idiots in this world haven't learned yet.
That there's severe consequences for your actions.
That if you step out of line, out in society, I mean, way worse things than spanking can happen to you.
You could get jumped. You could, you know, end up in jail. You could end up dead.
Withhold not correction from the child. If thou beatest him with the rod, oh, I could never do it.
He shall not die. It's like, get over, you're not going to kill him.
Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shall deliver his soul from hell.
You know what you're teaching your children when you instruct them this way, dad?
You're teaching them that God is a God who inflicts consequences.
That there's a hell to be avoided.
Obviously, this is how we're going to, you know, one way of instructing our children. It's the negative side.
Okay? And it has to be there. You want to bring your children to glory?
You want to be the glory of your children, dad? You have to have this.
It's crucial.
Don't spare the rod.
The other way is you have to instruct through gentleness.
I don't want to downplay everything I just said. I don't want to just use this.
Don't take what I'm going to say next as a reason to dismiss everything I just got done saying.
About how important it is to spank your children, to instruct them in this way.
But we also need to instruct through gentleness.
We don't want to be overbearing. We don't want to run to the extreme either.
And we have to learn this balance.
The problem is, is that, you know, a lot of times dads just, they don't learn that balance because they've never even tried to go, you know, they've never tried this side of the scale.
You get what I'm saying?
They don't know where that balance is because they've never picked up the paddle.
So the scale's like this. Ooh, it's all gentle.
You don't want that either.
I love Proverbs 18 verse 34. I'll just read to you.
He that, he teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of strength, or excuse me, a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
That's like such a manly verse.
He teacheth my hands to war.
A bow of steel is broken by mine arms, and he's strong.
Yet thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation, thy right hand holding me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.
What made David so strong? What made him such a mighty man of war? God's gentleness.
There were times where God held back.
Remember his sin with Bathsheba?
And he confessed, he said, thou shalt not die. He was worthy to die, but he said, you know what, you're not going to die.
Nevertheless, there still were consequences. We understand that.
But there's also a time to be gentle.
There's also a time to let the boy learn.
Those words will echo in my ears my whole life.
You got time for a story?
I was living in my dad's, we would, he lived in the tropics where everything grew really fast.
And they had these things called tan tan trees, and they were about as thick as your thumb, and they grew like, every month you're out, you think mowing the grass, well a lot of you don't know what that is.
But you think mowing the grass every couple weeks is tough.
I mean you're out there with a machete and you're like, you're hauling and making huge, just huge brush piles.
And it's just, they grow all the time. Then you have to burn them, get rid of them.
So my dad's got me out there, just trimming up all the, you know, collecting all these tan tan trees, cutting everything down, we had a big yard.
And I got a pile, I'm not kidding you, it was like half the size at this stage, it was taller, it was like bigger than the church van.
It was a huge pile of brush that we built up.
And now it was time to burn it.
You know, and in my zeal at 18 years old, you know, I grab the gas can and I'm over there just like, chu chu, chu chu, chu chu.
Just, I mean, I'm pouring gas all over it.
I must have emptied, you know, half that gas, I mean, gallons of gas are going on this plane.
You know, and my, and I can remember my stepmother going, John, John, stop him.
And I'm like lighting a stick on fire, getting ready to go, and I remember my dad just saying, boys gotta learn.
I walked over, I didn't even think I got to the gas, the vapors went off.
It was like, boom!
I remember my eyelids curled back, or my eyelashes curled back, I could smell burnt hair, my hair.
The landlord came out, he's like, it shook all the glass in his house up on the hill.
And then the next time we did that, my dad said, now let me show you how it's done.
And he started a small fire, and then he started to feed it, and then let it get bigger.
Right? I don't know what that had to do with the sermon.
I said the words, the boys gotta learn, and it just instantly brought me back.
But, you know, that experience was enough for me to go, hey, don't do that again.
I've got a history with fire.
There's more than one lesson I've learned by fire, which involved my father.
I don't have time to go into it.
But, you know, dad was just like, hey, just learn the hard way, I guess.
You know? And sometimes dads just need to kind of sit back and just let us figure things out, too.
I don't know if that was the time to do it, but, you know, I'm still here today,
and I didn't have to get any skin grafts or anything, so it wasn't all bad.
Made for a good story.
But, you know, we want to instruct our children, we want to bring them to glory through yes, negative.
We gotta have that. You can't do it without it.
You gotta set that standard.
How are they gonna know you're being gentle if you've never been harsh?
How are they gonna know you're being soft if you've never been firm?
How are they gonna know you're showing mercy when you've never shown, you know, punishment and justice?
How are they gonna know the difference when you've never shown the other side?
You gotta have both.
In order to bring our children to glory, you must instruct them.
And it has to be dad. Let me say this, that it takes a man to raise a man.
This is especially true of boys.
Okay? Go over to Psalm 127, and I'll hurry up and wrap this up.
I know we got about 60 root beers to drink here.
It takes a man to raise a man.
The Bible says in Psalm 127, verse 3,
Low children are in heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
Now that's, you know, that'd be a great verse to preach on Mother's Day, right?
But we all know this next verse too. Look at verse 4.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them, they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
I love this verse. It says that children are like the arrows in the hand of a mighty man.
The children of the youth.
Right?
You know, children that are brought up, that are brought to glory, that are instructed,
that are taught, that have a father in the home,
a godly father, a righteous influence,
you know, those are people to be reckoned with in this world.
Why do you think Satan and this world fight so hard against a godly family?
Why do you think they make it so hard on those that want to, you know, have mom stay at home and raise the children
and go to church and learn the Bible and have standards?
Why does Satan want to make it so hard?
Because godly children that are brought upright are a force to be reckoned with in this world.
They are an arrow in the hand of a mighty man. An arrow.
And they can reach out and touch an enemy that dad can't, that that mighty man can't.
There's something that will extend beyond his reach in this world.
After he's dead and gone, they will still be there.
He's not only replaced himself, he's multiplied.
You know, I didn't just replace myself and my wife.
You know, we have five children.
There's five arrows that are going out in this world.
That's what we need to do as fathers.
That's what you're doing when you're raising godly children.
It's like a mighty man drawing back on a bow and letting it go and launching it at the enemy.
And it's making an impact.
It's going to make a difference.
You know, fathers are the glory of children.
It's not the other way around.
I will point out again in this verse that it's the children of mighty men, right?
It's a hand of a mighty man, right?
It's the fathers that we need.
Go to Proverbs chapter 17 where we started. Proverbs chapter 17.
Look, fathers are the glory of children this morning.
It's not the other way around.
I know it's Father's Day and we're giving glory to dad.
We're giving honor to dad and amen.
I'm glad there's some good holiday this month.
I'm glad there's something worth celebrating this month.
And it sure isn't what they're celebrating out there in our streets up and down this country.
I'm glad that we're still celebrating Father's Day.
It hasn't been changed to, you know, parent day.
They day or whatever they're going to start calling it next.
You say, well what's in it for dad?
You know, what does dad get out of raising godly children?
Well, you know, it's great in Proverbs 17 because it tells us that there is still something for dad to look forward to.
There is a glory for dad too.
Because that's the point of the sermon, right?
Children, you know, fathers are a glory to their children.
It's the father's job to bring their children to glory.
And that comes through sacrifice, that comes through hard work, that comes through not pleasing ourselves,
that comes through, you know, putting ourselves out there and putting our families first.
That's what dads do.
And not just pleasing ourselves and just doing whatever we want.
Forgoing those things and providing and protecting and nurturing our families.
That's what dads do.
That's fatherhood.
I mean, that's parenthood.
Sacrifice.
Well, what do parents get out of it?
Well, I love this because it starts in verse 6.
It says their children's children are the crown of old men.
So again, the verse is saying there that the glory of children are their fathers,
but the crown or the glory of old men are grandchildren.
You know, that's what we as parents, as fathers, have to look forward to.
If we raise our children right.
You know, if we raise godly children, we're going to have grandchildren.
You know, if we raise children, understand that they are to, you know,
that the young women need to marry and bear children and guide the house.
That young men need to go out and provide that for a young lady and need to be fathers
and that they need to have raised godly children.
They need to be fruitful and multiply.
It's a commandment out of scripture.
It's not some, you know, it's not just some option.
It's God's will that you fill a pew in this church.
If we raise children to understand that, our glory, dads, is when those children come
and set a grandchild in our lap.
That's going to be a great day.
You know, you ask me, what are some of your life goals, brother Corbin?
To see my grandchildren.
Is it to reach a certain level of income?
To reach a certain level of fame and prestige in this world?
To collect enough things, to take enough vacations, to, you know, check off enough boxes on my bucket list?
You know, the crown for me in this life is going to be when my godly children come one day
and they bring their children and they visit grandpa and I get to hold my grandchild.
Because then I'll know I've done it right.
Then I'll know I've launched an arrow out into this world.
Then I'll know I was a mighty man who drew back.
And I'm going to be, that enemy isn't done with me yet.
That I'll still be fighting long after I'm gone.
That I'll still be making a difference.
You know, it would be really cool if I thought about this.
Now, it's not promised here.
You know, the grandchild is crowned enough, right?
But having a great grandchild.
Now, we got started kind of late.
I don't know if the numbers are going to work for me.
You know, maybe I should stop, or I should start taking better care of myself if I really want this.
But, you know, I was thinking about it, you know, neither of my grandfathers saw any of their great grandchildren as far as I know.
I thought about my eldest cousins and when they had kids and I thought, I'm pretty sure, you know, both my grandfathers were named William.
They were both died before that could happen.
I thought, man, that'd be cool if I was, you know, able to see that.
If I was able to see a great grandchild.
Just at least one, right?
But hey, the Bible says that children's children are the crown of old men.
You know, that little grandchild coming, getting set on your lap, it's like a coronation.
It's like you're being crowned with glory.
That's when you get the glory, Dad.
But it's not your children.
Your children are not a glory to you.
You are a glory to them.
So we need to be that glory.
The Bible says in Proverbs 27, my son, be wise and make my heart glad that I may answer him that reproacheth me.
You know, I want to raise wise children.
I want to have wise children so that I can answer them that reproach me.
This world is reproaching fathers.
This world is reproaching mothers.
It's reproaching the godly home.
I want to answer back.
I want to raise wise children.
I want to bring them to glory.
You know, while they're out there telling, you know, getting their children all confused about what gender they are.
And people are debating whether or not they should chemically castrate children while they're still minors.
And they're going to mock us.
You know, let's give it a few more decades.
Let's give it another generation and see who's still answering back.
I want it to be me.
They can go ahead and reproach me all day long.
You know what, I'm going to keep on raising my children right, doing what the Bible says.
And I'm going to send an arrow out there and I'm going to answer back to those that reproach me.
That would be another life goal of mine.
To have raised children who have reproved the reproach of this culture.
We do it by bringing our children to glory.
Let's go ahead and pray.
Dear Lord, again, thank you for being a father unto us, your children.
Lord, thank you for being an example of what a father should be of stern, loving, kind, compassionate, long suffering.
And Lord, I pray that you would help us to be the same.
Lord, that you would help us to have standards, to uphold them.
And Lord, to instruct in righteousness so that we might have that crown later in life, Lord,
of godly generations going on beyond our years.
We ask these things in Christ's name, Amen.
Alright, we'll sing one more song before we go.
Amen.
.