You
Anchor Baptist Church. We're gonna go ahead and get started this morning. Our first hymn is number 32.
He lives on high.
Hymn number 3232. He lives on high. We'll sing there right on the first.
We thank you for this day.
We just thank you for the rain that you've been blessing us with,
and we thank you also for the spiritual rain
that you've allowed to take place,
the watering in people's lives,
and the salvation that we've seen as a church,
both here and abroad.
Lord, I pray today that this service you'd keep us all safe,
that your hand of protection would just be on this congregation,
and that everything that we do would be to your glory,
to your honor, that it's decent and in order.
These things we pray in Jesus' name.
All right, for our next hymn, 176,
Jesus loves the little children.
It's only one verse, so we'll sing it twice.
And I need all the little kids to sing this out,
because I know that you know it, okay?
176, Jesus loves the little children.
We'll sing there right on the first.
Jesus loves the little children.
Church. This time we'll go through some announcements. If you don't have a bulletin, please raise your hand and an usher will bring you one.
On the front is our Bible memory passage of the week. Galatians chapter number one verse 24. So this is the last verse in this chapter, but we will have a grace week next week.
So you still have two full weeks to memorize this chapter. You could definitely do it.
On the inside, our service times are listed there Sunday morning at 10 30 Sunday evening at 4 30
and our Wednesday evening Bible study through Proverbs at 7 o'clock. We do have all of our
soul winning times listed there and all those meet here at the church building and we got another
update from our soul winners in the Philippines this week and that's that brings our salvation total
for the year up to 738 so we're praising God for that.
and 394 of that has been in the Philippines so they're doing a great job over there make sure
that you continue to pray for them that just for their safety and that the door will continue to
be open for them to do great works over there upcoming events we have this evening after the
evening service we're having pizza and Father's Day floats so make sure to stick around for this
evening and join us for that
June 22nd, that's next Sunday evening is the men's preaching night
There is a sign-up sheet in the back if you'd like to participate in that then
June 28th, that's a Saturday. We're gonna have the tinker airshow fellowship if you've got young kids
We do have some hearing protection in the back for them. You're more than welcome to take those
Then that Sunday June 29th, Brother Ben Naeem from steadfast Baptist Church will be preaching both services for us
A little bit later, August 27th is the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship, a steadfast Baptist church, and October 6th through the 11th is the Bahamas Mission Trip.
Really looking forward to all those.
On the right, you'll see we have our prayer list.
If you have any updates, please make sure to email the church and we'll get that updated for you.
As well as we have some information on visitor cards and giving online if you'd like to do that.
That's going to be it for announcements this morning.
We'll go ahead and go to our third song.
All right, our third song this morning, number 247, saved, saved, 247, 247, saved, saved.
We'll sing there starting right on the first.
are being passed. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians chapter number 5. Ephesians chapter
fusions 5.
Be therefore followers of God as dear children
and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us
and hath given himself for us in offering
and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor,
but fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness,
let it not be once named among you as become of saints,
neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting,
which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks.
For this you know that no hormonger
nor unclean person nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of
Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh
the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them, for
ye were sometimes darkness, but now ye light, and the Lord walk as children of light, for the fruit
Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light, for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
See then that you walk circumspectly not as fools, but as wise
Redeeming the time because the days are evil
Wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is and be not drunk with wine
Wearing as excess but be filled with the Spirit
Speaking to yourselves and Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs
Singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord giving thanks always
for all things unto God, and the Father,
and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Submitting yourselves.
One to another in the fear of God,
wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands
as unto the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife,
even as Christ is the head of the church,
and he is the savior of the body.
Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ,
so let the wives be to their own husbands and everything.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church
and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it
with the washing of water by the word,
to himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but
that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
For no man ever yet hated his own flesh,
but nourisheth and cherisheth it,
even as the Lord the church,
for we are members of his body, of his flesh,
and of his bones.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother,
and shall be joined unto his wife,
and they too shall be one flesh.
This is a great mystery,
but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Nevertheless, let every one of you,
in particular, so love his wife,
even as himself, and the wife,
see that she reverents her husband.
Let's bow our heads for our prayer, Father in heaven.
We thank you for this day.
And we thank you for our church.
We ask that you fill our fast with the Holy Spirit
and help the two people in the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
All right.
So we're in at least a chapter five.
He says, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands
as unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife,
even as Christ is the head of the church.
And he is the savior of the body.
Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ,
so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything."
So in this chapter, we learned that positionally,
the husband is the head of the home.
He's in charge of the wife.
He's in charge of the children.
And wives are commanded to obey their husbands,
like the church obeys Jesus Christ.
But with this comes a lot of responsibility.
That comparison with Christ being the head of the church and the husband being the head
of the wife is made in verse 26.
It says this.
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water of water by the word
So like Jesus Christ is the spiritual leader of the church
It's the same thing with husbands husbands are to present their families as spiritual in verse 27
It says that he might present it to himself a
glorious church
Not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish
so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.
He that love it, his wife, love it himself.
So of course we talk about how men are the head of the home,
but with that comes a really high responsibility
of being the spiritual leader of the home.
And of course us as dads,
we wear a lot of different hats in life.
You know, we could be physical protectors,
we could be providers,
people that offer correction to our children.
We could be friends to our family members
and to our children,
but I would say that the most important role
that dads have today is that of spiritual leadership.
And so the title of my sermon this morning
is this spiritual leadership at home.
You know, it's important to preach sermons like this
because obviously us as dads and us just as men in general,
we wanna succeed
in everything we do in life, right?
We want to be good providers.
We want to be good protectors.
But for me, man, if there's one area
I don't want to fail in,
it is in my spiritual leadership to my family.
I don't want to be that dad that, man,
did he, you know, like baseball,
or man, that dad knew everything about NASCAR.
Man, that dad was just a really great hunter,
but he didn't really teach his kids anything spiritually.
He didn't care about his kids salvation.
He didn't care about his kids spiritual growth.
You know, I don't want that to be my legacy.
So this morning, let's talk about some important keys to
being a spiritual leader in the home.
Keep your place in Ephesians 5 and go to 1 Corinthians 14.
Number one is a simple, but this is important.
You need to read the Bible.
And you know, we talk about this, and it's something that I feel like people just, it
goes into their ears, but oftentimes Christians don't practice this, and you will never be
an effective spiritual leader if you do not read the Bible.
You will never be a spiritual Christian by just listening to preaching, by just coming
to church.
You must read the Bible yourself.
Look at 1st Corinthians 14, verse 34.
The Bible says, let your women keep silence in the churches,
for it is not permitted unto them to speak,
but they are commanded to be under obedience,
as also sayeth the law.
So of course, men are not just in charge in the home,
men are in charge in church.
Men are supposed to be pastors, bishops,
all of these different positions.
And notice verse 35, it says,
and if they, that's the women,
We'll learn anything at home, learn anything, excuse me.
Let them ask their husbands at home.
for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
So notice, if a woman has a question about doctrine,
about something spiritual,
she's not supposed to interrupt the service
and ask the pastor in his sermon or something like that.
She's supposed to ask her husband at home.
Now, how is a wife supposed to get fed spiritually
by her husband if her husband doesn't know the Bible?
If her husband doesn't read the Bible and look, you as a man, here's the thing.
I'm all for women being as spiritual as they could possibly be.
I don't believe we should try to put women down or keep them from learning.
Like ladies, I hope you read the Bible five times a year.
That'd be great.
You know, I've got nothing against ladies just putting as much of their heart
and soul into learning the Bible.
But here's the thing, men, you ought to be doing more so.
You ought to be reading the Bible even more.
You ought to be even more knowledgeable about the things of God,
because you are that bulwark for your wife to go to
if she has a question about something spiritual.
And guess what?
Grock AI is not how you become a spiritual leader.
Hey, honey, what does that mean in the Bible?
Hold on real quick.
You go to Grok AI and then you have, you know,
a computer tell you what the Bible means.
That's what a lot of people are doing right now
in a lot of areas of life.
You know, they're getting through school with AI,
they're getting through, you know, lawyers are using it,
doctors are using it,
and even a lot of Christians
are just basing their doctrine off of Google searches and AI.
No, you actually ought to know the Bible yourself.
If you're going to be a spiritual leader in your home, you must be reading the Bible.
Go to 1 Timothy chapter 4.
1 Timothy 4.
Now the pastoral pistols are really great for dads to read, because though they're primarily directed at a pastor,
what is a pastor?
He's the spiritual leader of the flock.
What is a dad?
He's the spiritual leader of the home.
And so a lot of these principles you can apply to yourself.
1st Timothy 4 verse 13, the Bible says till I come give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
See, I'm all for emphasizing church attendance and soul winning, but we ought not to forget that one of the most important Christian disciplines is reading the Bible.
It says neglect not the gift that is in thee.
which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery,
meditate upon these things, give thyself holy to them,
that thy profiting may appear to all.
take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine, continue in them, for in doing this thou
shall both save thyself and them that hear thee."
So notice, the pastor of a church, he's supposed to be giving himself wholly to reading the
Word of God, to doctrine, to the work of the ministry, and by doing that, his inner profiting,
And by him paying attention to the doctrine, it says that he's going to save himself and those that hear him, right?
So, and obviously this isn't talking about a spiritual salvation, but if you are being spiritual,
if you're paying attention to the doctrine of the Word of God, you're going to save yourself from going down the wrong path in life.
And if the pastor's going the right way and leading the right way, the church is going to go the right way.
Well, it's the same exact thing in your home.
You are setting the tone in your home men and you are, you know, just like preaching is not neutral, your leadership in the home is not neutral.
You are either leading your family down the right path towards serving God, towards doing that which is right, or you're leading your family down a dark path getting back slidden, getting away from the Bible, and it starts with you.
Yes, followers can rebel and that's wicked, but you need to make sure that you are setting the tone.
You need to be reading the Bible so that you can profit your family.
Go to 2 Timothy chapter 3.
2 Timothy chapter number 3.
And you know, here's the thing.
You can't go the right way unless you know the right way, right?
So you as a father or as a husband, your job is to lead your family the right way.
Guess what?
You can't do that unless you actually know yourself what the right way is.
This is why it is so, so important before you get married.
If anyone's listening who's not married is to spend as much time in the Word of God
you get married because you want to get those leadership qualities and that knowledge beforehand
so that you could just lead your wife and lead your children the right direction right off the bat.
Look at 2 Timothy 3 verse 16 the Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable
for doctrine for
reproof for
correction for
Instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect
Truly furnished unto all good works. So when you think about how Christ is the head of the church
We talk about how is that done practically?
Well, it's done through his word, right?
Jesus corrects us through the word of God
and the word of God does all these different things for us.
It's profitable for doctrine.
What is that?
Just teaching, right?
Knowing what's right for reproof.
That's telling you when you're wrong, right?
For correction, telling you what's right.
for instruction in righteousness, telling you how to do right.
Now, these are all the things that Jesus Christ does for us through His Word.
These are all the exact same things that a good human leader does for his followers.
You know, oftentimes as a dad, you are going to have to, first of all, teach doctrine.
What is right? Give your family the truth.
And oftentimes, you're going to have to correct problems in your family.
You know, leadership is not just everything going smooth and everything going wonderfully.
Leadership is often you correcting problems.
And if you as a dad want to ever have to reprove effectively and correct and instruct effectively,
you're going to have to do that from a source of authority that's beyond yourself.
That's the word of God.
You don't want to just lead like some pastors lead today, just based off their opinion, based on their own human wisdom and human understanding.
You know, the most effective fathers and the most effective husbands are going to be those who are reproving, correcting and instructing based on the principles in the Bible.
You know, that's how you're going to make sure that you're actually leading your family the right way.
Go to Deuteronomy chapter number 17.
Deuteronomy chapter number 17.
Deuteronomy 17 verse number 18 notice what it says about a king it says and it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom
That he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites
And it shall be with him and he shall read therein all the days of his life
That he may learn to fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them
So in the Old Testament, you had a leader here, which of course is a king, but this principle could apply to any leader.
And notice how much the king had to respect and invest time in the Word of God,
that he had to literally hand copy the Word of God out legibly by hand.
I mean, has anyone ever written something really long by hand before? It takes forever.
You know, when I was in high school, we had to by hand write out the entire Declaration of Independence.
and Constitution of the United States, and it took months.
It took forever.
It was a lot of work.
Could you imagine doing that with the Bible?
I mean, this would take forever, but not only that,
he's supposed to read therein all the days of his life.
Why?
Look at verse 20.
That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren.
and that he turn not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left
to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children.
Right? Happy Father's Day and his children in the midst of Israel.
You know, any leader, when it comes to your effectiveness as a leader,
pride is one of the quickest ways to destroy the influence that you have.
and just basing things off of your own mind,
not doing things according to the Bible,
going to the right hand or to the left,
off the path that God has given you.
You know, it's a really quick way
to lose the influence that you have.
And obviously, you know, we need to emphasize what God emphasizes, which is, hey, wives, obey your husbands, children, obey your parents and the Lord for this is right.
But in addition to that truth, we also want as leaders to try to be as effective as possible and to keep the respect of the people that we lead.
And one of the ways you do that is by not being prideful.
being prideful is going to hurt your home.
It will hurt you as a pastor or as a preacher,
as a leader in business.
Pride is going to cause your heart to be lifted up
above your brethren,
and that's going to affect the people that you follow.
Because notice when you turn aside from the commandment
to the right or to the left,
says don't do that to the end
that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, right?
So he's gonna prolong his position of leadership
and his effectiveness as a king.
by not being prideful, by sticking with the Word of God,
and it says, and his children in the midst of Israel.
If your followers are rebelling against you and your children, you know, God forbid grow up and they don't like you or something like that.
Obviously that's terrible, but if that happens as a result of you just leading with what the Bible says and sticking with what the Word of God says, then hey, so be it, right?
But you know, it'd be a shame if we as fathers lose our influence over our children because we're just prideful, arrogant jerks because we're not following what the Bible says.
to keep the heart of my children as long as possible and so the best way to do that is to be humble,
to read the Bible all the days of your life. You know, the reason why a lot of people grow up
and don't respect their parents is not because they were godly and respecting the Bible and
following God's commandments. It's because their dad was a raging alcoholic. It was because their
It was because, you know, their dad was committing adultery.
You know, when you're going aside from the commandments of God to the right hand or to the left,
you know, that's really going to destroy your relationship with your children.
Go to, if you will, Ephesians chapter 2, again, Ephesians chapter number 2.
I'm sorry, Ephesians chapter 5, verse 22.
So, we talked about number one, leadership in the home, you got to read the Bible.
It's the foundation for everything.
It's not going to be the most exciting sermon, but you know what?
That is super important, very important.
Number two, biblical leadership in the home, you need to be a benevolent dictator.
As a father, you must be a benevolent dictator in your home.
Look at verse 22.
It says, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands
as unto the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife.
even as Christ is the head of the church
and he is the savior of the body.
So notice when it comes to a man's authority
and a father's authority in the home,
it says that he is the head of the wife.
He's not some like co-regent with the wife
where they have 50% of the power.
No, the husband is in charge of the wife,
the husband is in charge of the children
and that means that he needs to make the rules in the home.
He needs to set the tone.
He needs to not allow himself to be walked all over
by his wife or God forbid, even by his children.
No, he needs to be in charge.
Why?
Because it's the same as Christ being the head of the church,
right?
Me and Christ, we don't sit here and argue back and forth
and we'll let me give you my ideas, God.
And let me tell you why I think I'm right.
No, it's just he's in charge, period.
The word of God is in charge, period, and anytime I have an opinion that's different
than what the Bible says, I need to immediately fix that carnal attitude, right?
And it's the same thing with a wife or children in the home.
Dad is right, folks.
Happy dad, happy life.
That's what we need to get back to in America, not this garbage feminist crap, you know,
happy wife, happy life.
Let me tell you, you know, I'm sure Eve was real happy when she was eating that fruit.
right? She thought this was what she wanted. She thought this was going to be good for her,
but you know what? She doesn't always know what's best. Adam was not deceived, the Bible says.
Eve was deceived. And so we need to get back to a family structure where dad is the benevolent
dictator. What does that mean? He makes the rules.
Now, what about that benevolent part?
He makes those rules for the best interests of his wife and children.
It's not that we need, you know, just tyrant dads and tyrant husbands that are just going
to walk all over their wives and walk all over their children.
Look, that's garbage.
No one's advocating for a structure like that except for maybe Muslims.
But you know, those are false, that's a false religion.
We don't believe in that crap, but we do believe that husbands should be the head of the home.
pissing off your wife and children, but you know what, if I have to piss off my wife and children
knowing that I'm doing right, then that's me loving them. Then that's me doing what's right
for them. You know, I don't know about you. I like it when someone gets elected to political office
and they don't sit here and vote based off of what people like.
I like them to just vote on principle, what's right, what the Constitution says, right?
I like pastors that don't cave and cower to their congregations when the winds of politics
are shifting in their congregation.
I like pastors that just do what's right, that just stand on what the Bible says.
And you know what?
It's the same thing with dads and with husbands.
I follow Christ, I follow what the Bible says,
and I actually read the Bible so I actually know what the Bible says,
and I'm going to command my family to do what's right.
Not let my wife walk all over me and tell my wife how we're going to serve God or my wife
Tell me how we're going to serve God my wife. Tell me where we're going to go to church
My wife. Tell me what Bible we're going to read my wife. Tell me what pastor we're going to listen to no
I know what's right. I know the right way. I know the Bible
I know the right takes on things and so I'll tell you what we're going to do period you say that sounds prideful
No, no, no submission to the word of God is humility
Let me tell you what's prideful is feminism, because that's your human understanding.
That's your opinion that's trying to exalt itself over what the Bible says.
Oh, 50-50 marriage, prideful.
Oh, women being in charge in their homes?
You're the prideful one.
Not someone who's actually submitting to what the Bible says.
The Bible says that the man is the head of the home,
and that like we submit to Christ as a church,
so wives should submit to their own husbands in everything.
Notice what the Bible is actually emphasizing.
Obedience to the leader.
Not, well, what if he tells me to sin?
Okay, yeah, there are exceptions,
but is that what the Bible actually focuses on?
No.
Oh, you know, my husband told me to be a stripper.
Said no husband ever.
My husband told me to start an OnlyFans.
Said no husband ever.
Oh, yeah.
Okay.
Theoretically, if that happens, yeah, you disobey your husband in that case because
you obey God.
But guess what?
That doesn't happen.
You know how many times I've ever told my wife to sin?
Zero.
Times.
Ever.
And so, and I'm pretty sure for you, man, I hope it's the same thing.
We're not just going around telling our wives, sin.
Sin, sin, it's like what are you talking about?
It's insane.
You know what we're doing is that we're benevolent dictators.
You know what I'm doing?
I want my wife to be spiritual.
I want my wife to serve God.
I want my children to grow up and to get saved and to please God.
And so all the decisions that I make in life are going to be me making the decision, me
making the call, but it's going to be towards that end, towards that aim.
You know that's what a benevolent dictator does.
It says, or actually 25, husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church
and gave himself for it.
So look, husbands, of course, we should be loving our wives and we should also be loving
our children.
We should love our wives as Christ loved the church.
How did Christ love the church?
Well, of course, he sacrificed himself.
for the church. And you know men we should be willing to give of our whole life, our time, our energy, our money, everything that we have should be poured into our families.
You know you shouldn't be one of these deadbeat dads that just sits around all day playing video games, not working hard, not going to work.
You know that's not you sacrificing yourself for your family like Christ did. What did Christ do? He endured a lot of pain.
a lot of hardship, he endured everything, he endured the cross, right, for the church
of God.
We should be doing the same thing, but does that mean that Christ has no rules for us?
Oh, husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church.
So that means you can never tell your wife what to do, you can never, you know, rebuke
your family or come down on them or correct them.
It's like, have you ever read the Bible?
Love your wife as Christ loved the church.
You know that Christ has some rules for us?
You know Christ has some structure for us?
You know that Christ tells us what to do?
I mean, the whole Bible is God telling us what's right,
correcting us of what's wrong with us.
No, we need to be leading our family.
Go to Genesis 18, Genesis chapter number 18.
And you know, one of the things that you just have to get used to if you want to be a good leader
is that just understand that not every decision you make is going to be popular.
Not every time you make a decision is your wife just going to be cheering and happy and your children cheering and happy and your church cheering and happy.
But here's what you just got to realize is, hey, well, I love my wife. I love my kids.
And so I'm going to do what's right for them, even if it causes them to be temporarily angry with me or upset with me.
That's what real love is. Genesis 18 verse 17.
Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him.
for I know him that he will command his children and his household after him,
and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment
that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him."
God liked Abraham because he said,
I know that he will command his family to do what's right.
Not like, well, Abraham's going to silently do what's right.
on his own and just kinda hope that his wife and kids follow.
No, he's gonna command them to do what's right.
And we need dads today to actually take the reins
of their authority and actually exercise that authority.
Look, you have authority,
but if you don't ever exercise it,
does it really mean anything?
If you don't ever come down every once in a while and actually set some rules and actually tell your family what to do,
then your authority is meaningless.
You know, you're the head of your wife.
If you don't ever tell your wife what to do, you're not really in charge in practicality, are you?
If you don't actually lay down the law and tell your children what they're going to do,
you're not really in charge.
And so you know what that means?
Is that dads, you need to command your family to serve the Lord.
You actually have the power.
See, you know what's sad is sometimes there's families where the wife is saved and the husband
isn't.
That's a hard situation to be in because, you know, the wife can't just sit here and
force her husband to come to church and force her husband to read the Bible.
And even if he is saved and just not spiritual, the wife cannot make her husband do anything.
But guess what, husbands, you do have the authority.
You can say, hey honey, we're coming to Anchor Baptist Church this morning at 10.30 a.m.
Get in the car.
Now, here's the thing, you could do this in a nice way, you could do this in a way that
tries to keep your wife's heart happy.
You could say, hey honey, we're going to Anchor Baptist Church and right after we're
going to go out to eat at your favorite restaurant.
You could do things like this to make your life easier, but at the end of the day, if
you are the man, if you are the husband, you command your family.
What's right?
Oh man.
Today, we have an epidemic of fornication in our country.
Yeah, that's true, but you command your children, no.
You command your children and say, hey, no, we're not going to let you be like Dinah.
We're not going to let you go out and just see the daughters of the land.
Oh, you're just a 15, 16 year old girl.
Go ahead and just go across state lines, go ahead and hang out with your boyfriend and
just drive across the country and hang out at his apartment and go to dark places with
him.
You say, wait, you could do that?
Yeah, you can, because you're actually in charge.
Drugs, alcohol, this crap should not
be allowed in your home.
And you, dad, you're the one that has the authority.
You're the one that gets to say, no.
You're the one that gets to sometimes veto that shady boy
that's coming after your daughter.
You are the one that's in charge.
And you know what, you need to exercise that authority.
Men today need to tell their wives and their families,
we are going to church.
Because you know what I've noticed?
When people are either they just got saved you know they're their babes in Christ
What I've noticed is that oftentimes ladies do not like the hard preaching right away
Oftentimes, it kind of takes them some time and it grows, you know, it starts to grow
and they start to like it, but from just countless testimonies I've heard of people that go
to our church and other churches like ours, it's the husband that got saved, the husband
started listening to hard preaching, and the husband brought his family to church and then
the family got on board.
then the wife started liking it.
You don't just see all these women that are just like,
man, I just love hard preaching.
Man, did you hear Pastor Anderson's,
you know, sermon on the home, on obedience?
It was great.
You know, you're in charge, honey.
You don't really see that, right?
So what we need is some men to keep doing that
and actually command their family
and say, hey, I don't care if you like it
because it's right.
Oh, I don't care if you like hard preaching, it's what the Bible prescribes.
Oh, you don't like, you know, the battle, you don't like the fight, who cares?
We've been called to the spiritual fight.
We've been called to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.
You know, in a physical sense, only men should be in the army,
but in a spiritual sense, all you ladies are enlisted,
and all you children are enlisted too, because it's a spiritual battle.
And you know what? You got to tell your family, you're joining.
You're getting on board.
Hey, we're going to the barracks right now.
Sorry if you don't like that, but we're doing it.
We need some men to actually be in charge today.
And let me tell you something right now.
If your wife tells you how to serve God,
you are not in charge.
You are not leading.
You are failing as a spiritual leader.
You say, but if I tell my wife what to do,
she's gonna be mad at me.
Who cares, man?
Who cares?
Are you trying to please God?
men or in this case a woman. I mean how how shameful how weak is that? It's like
we're supposed to be you know faithful unto death. We're supposed to be you know
ready to go through the tribulation where we're gonna keep soul-winning God
willing through people trying to kill us through it being illegal to be a
Christian and you can't serve God because your wife doesn't like it. You need to
change.
Look, here's the thing, this is the case for thousands of men all over America.
This is the case for tons of people.
So look, I'm not mad at people that are in this situation.
I want to help them.
I want them to change, but someone needs to tell you that you're wrong.
that this is bad, that this is not good spiritual leadership,
you would rather be making Christ happy
and making God happy than in the temporary moment
making your wife happy. Because let me tell you something right now,
your wife most likely, sure there could be exceptions to this,
but most likely in the long run when you do that which is right, when you take her
to a good church, when you lead spiritually,
in the long run that's how she's gonna be happiest anyways.
Sure, there's Jezebel's out there.
Sure, there's just extremely wicked women
where they'll just never change.
And look, I'm sorry if you're in that situation.
But you know what?
Your wife is probably not that person.
Your wife probably just needs a strong man to lead her.
Your wife probably just needs to hear some hard preaching
and to be told to read the Bible.
And when she starts reading the Bible,
you know what's gonna happen?
The Holy Spirit of God can change her.
Isn't that what happens to all of us, right?
We get saved, we're worldly, we're carnal,
we've got all these worldly philosophies in our mind
cause we're human beings, we're sinners,
but what happens, we start getting washed
by the water of the word and we start to change
and we start to grow and it's like men,
if you are already saved and you are already spiritual
or you think you're spiritual and you think your wife isn't,
okay, what's the solution?
Going down to your water down church.
How is that ever going to change?
It will never change.
Your wife will never grow in a watered-down church.
She will never grow by hearing preaching from the NIV
or reading a false Bible version.
You know how she's going to grow?
Hey, just rip the Band-Aid off.
Go through a little time of tribulation,
of some hardship in your marriage,
but over time, if she actually gets the word of God,
she could change.
But you know what, it's hopeless.
It's a fool's errand in bad churches
for you to hope that your wife is gonna change.
You need to get her under good preaching.
Go to Jeremiah chapter 35, Jeremiah chapter number 35.
Jeremiah 35 verse one,
the word which came into Jeremiah
from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim,
the son of Josiah, king of Judah saying,
Go into the house of the Reckobites and speak unto them and bring them into the house of the Lord into one of the chambers
and give them wine to drink.
Then I took Jazzaniah, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazzaniah, and his brethren and all his sons, and the whole house of the Reckobites.
And I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hainan, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God,
which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Massiah, the son of Shalom, the keeper of the door.
And I sat before the sons of the house of the Reckobites pots full of wine and cups, and I said unto them, drink ye wine.
But they said, we will drink no wine, for Johnadab, the son of Rehkab, our father commanded us, saying, ye shall drink no wine, neither ye nor your sons, for ever.
Verse 18, and Jeremiah said unto the house of the Recibites,
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
because ye have obeyed the commandment of John Adab,
your father, and kept all his precepts,
and done according to all that he hath commanded you.
Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
John Adab, the son of Rekab, shall not want a man
to stand before me forever."
You know, this is a cool story on Father's Day.
because you have these sons of Rekab here who were commanded by their father to drink no wine.
And obviously I don't think this is talking about alcoholic wine.
There's some people that don't understand this, that in the Bible there is alcoholic wine
and there is non-alcoholic wine. The Bible talks about the new wine that's in the cluster,
that's found in the cluster. Look, if there's juice that's in the vine cluster, that is not
OK, it's just insane today that people every time they see why they want to think alcohol.
But look, his father wouldn't have to go and make this special rule of not drinking alcohol
because alcohol already is wicked.
The Bible already forbids you to drink it.
If you read in proverbs,
you're not even supposed to look at the wine
when it's red, when it moves itself right in the cup.
So he's kind of going above and beyond
and giving him this extra just personal rule
that he has telling his children not to drink wine.
And that's talking, I believe, about this fruit juice.
So he has like this personal standard
that's above and beyond the word of God.
And notice how God responds to this, he doesn't get angry at this, he actually respects the
Father for doing this and commends the children for obeying the commandments of their Father.
I say all that to say this, hey, give your children commandments, give your children
rules, give your family rules.
I my dad kind of has some proverbs that I remember remember as being a child and they're kind of silly
They're not super serious, but they still kind of stick with me. You know, my dad told me this he said
Guns are for buying not for selling
Guns are for buying not for selling. It's just kind of silly like I'm sure like at the end of the day
He wouldn't be super upset with me if I sold a firearm, but I have never sold a firearm
because my dad said guns are for buying, not for selling.
It's just kind of a funny thing.
Or how about this, you know, my dad, again,
this is kind of over what the Bible necessarily teaches,
but like my dad hated, and boy do I share his hatred on this,
he hated when people don't put their shopping carts away
at the grocery store.
Man, it's just trashy.
It just shows like you have no respect for other people and that you're lazy and that
you're entitled and that you only think about yourself.
And let me tell you something.
It is a reflection of your character when you just go out, you just leave your stuff
in the middle of the road.
Like, come on, man, put your shopping cart away.
And my dad was always just like, we don't do that trash.
We're not like trash people that do that.
And my dad would march himself across the parking lot
and put his shopping cart away.
And my wife knows I do that 100% of the time to a tee.
And you know what?
You need to put your shopping cart away.
You know what?
My dad told me this, hey, we don't litter.
We just don't do that, that is absolute trash behavior.
I mean I remember when I worked at Steadfast,
we bought a building in Cedar Hill
and I was outside doing the lawn work
and I see this family drive by, roll down their window
and just throw out bags of McDonald's out of their car
and I'm just like, you're a piece of garbage.
You are a trash person, you know if you do that that is absolutely wicked
But you know we would always go hunting and camping and fishing and Idaho is just a very beautiful state very pristine
Natural environment and you go there and it's like we want to make it better than when we showed up
Like if previous people left trash and beer bottles or whatever like my dad would pick that stuff up
My dad would take it to such an extreme.
Oftentimes when he would go shooting,
he would literally pick up his shell casings.
And it's like, that's pretty over the top.
But he's just like, he hated littering, you know?
And so like, I keep that today.
I don't litter.
I don't throw my trash out of the window.
And you know what?
I like that my dad taught me those things.
And you know, you should give your children
some commandments.
Hey, we don't smoke.
Hey, we don't litter.
Hey, we put our shopping carts back.
Hey, we do whatever the rules you have.
You know, use your authority for good in your home.
Give them some good rules.
Go to Job chapter number one and I'll read for you.
Proverbs 3 1.
Solomon said this, my son, forget not my law,
but let thine heart keep my commandments.
Hey, it's good for dads to have their commandments,
their laws that they give their children.
Teach them to have some character.
Number three, for spiritual leadership in the home,
pray for your family.
This is very important as well.
Job one, one, it says, there was a man in the land of us
whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright,
and one that feared God in a shoe to evil.
And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
His substance also was 7,000 sheep and 3,000 camels
and 500 yoke of oxen and 500 she-asses,
and a very great household.
So that this man was the greatest.
of all the men of the east.
Now Job is an anomaly.
He's a very rare case because he is the most righteous person
that's alive at this time.
But he also is probably like the richest guy too.
I mean, he's extremely wealthy.
He's got all these assets.
His household is great.
And you know, it's rare to find anyone
that cares about serving God.
It's rare to find anyone who's spiritual.
It's even more rare to find someone who's extremely rich and who has this world's good.
People who are very rich, what do they spend their time thinking about?
How to do more things.
The next vacation, the next house, the next car, the next investment.
Usually rich people are just obsessed with this world.
But yet we have this man who's very, very rich.
And notice what it says in verse 4 in his sons.
went and feasted in their house houses every one is day and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink
With them so you know those children are grown, but they have a good relationship with each other
They still fellowship with each other
It says in verse 5 and it was so when the days of their feasting were gone about that Job sent and
Sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all
For Job said it may be
that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.
Thus did Job continually.
So notice Job, though he was rich,
and most people that are rich, they can't handle it.
They wouldn't be thinking about, you know,
the spiritual well-being of their children.
If anything, they might be thinking
about the financial well-being of their kids
or just their own financial well-being.
But Job, though he's rich, though he has everything,
he's thinking, man, my children might have sinned.
My children might be doing wrong.
He says continually, so he's just continuously making these offerings for his children, caring
about their souls, about their spiritual growth, and you know, in the New Testament, obviously
we're not making offerings, we're not sacrificing anything, but what do we do?
We offer the sacrifice of prayer to God.
And you know what?
There's no one in this world that is going to love your children like you do, Dad.
And like you do, Mom.
And look, I care about your kids in this church, and I pray for everyone in this church.
And I try to feed everyone.
I want to see everyone succeed.
I want to see everyone grow up and get saved and be spiritual and marry pure and have godly
families.
But let me tell you, you want that for your kids way more than I do.
It's just true.
And I want that for my kids more than you do and more than anyone else does.
Why?
Because you know what?
You're just going to have more love for your kids than anyone else.
I'm going to have more love for my kids than anyone else.
And if you are not consistently praying for your children, you could probably guess that
no one is.
Because who is going to be in this world that's going to be consistently praying for your
kids if not you?
You could hope for maybe a grandparent.
You know, you could hope for maybe a pastor, but really who is it that cares about them
more than anyone?
And so, you know what, even if your kids are young, you should be praying for them constantly.
And you know, Bethany, my oldest, is saved, praise God, but I prayed a long time that
her heart would be softened, that she would start to understand these things.
I take her soul winning all the time.
And now that she's saved, I want to pray for her spiritual growth.
I want to pray for my other children that are not yet saved, the same thing for them.
You know, it's important, even when your kids are young, to just pray that they'll grow
up and love God.
They'll grow up and love the Lord and hate sin and pray even for their future spouse,
even if they're young.
Hey, God, please just prepare a godly young person for my children that's going to lead
them well.
That's not going to be carnal and selfish and a loser, right?
I mean, these are important things to pray for and here's the thing, if you're not praying
for them, probably no one else really is.
And if you're not praying for them consistently,
probably no one else is.
And so man, it's so important as the spiritual leader
of your family that you don't just read the Bible,
that you don't just know what's right
and command your children what to do,
but that you also pray for your family.
You know, James 5.16 says,
confess your faults one to another
and pray one for another that you may be healed.
The effectual fervorant prayer
of a righteous man availeth much.
You know, we don't believe that prayer is just a vain exercise.
We don't believe that prayer is just meaningless.
We believe that prayer accomplishes things.
And it may not be right away, but you know, what do you think is going to be more effective?
You only telling your kids what's right or you telling your kids what's right and praying
them for 20 years before they leave your house.
It's going to make a difference and it's very important.
Go to, if you will, act chapter number 21,
act chapter number 21.
Number four this morning, when it comes to spiritual
leadership in the home, is be filled with the spirit.
This is also something cannot that cannot be emphasized enough
It's not just important to read the Bible and command and pray
But it's important that you yourself are actually spiritual that you yourself are actually modeling what's right acts 21 verse 8 it says
And the next day, we that were of Paul's company departed and came unto Caesarea, and we entered
into the house of notice Philip, the evangelist, which was one of the seven and abode with
him.
Notice the description in verse 9, and the same man had four daughters, virgins, which
did prophesy.
So Philip is a dad here.
He's got four daughters who are virgins.
it probably means that these girls are old enough of the age or that actually
means something significant. You know, you wouldn't think like if you had four
toddlers, they're like their virgins like obviously, you know what I mean? That's
just that's obviously normal. But when it comes to like if you have older
teenagers or adult children, if you have four daughters who are virgins,
you know, that kind of is highlighting something there. And so this is a really
spiritual man. How do you know that? Well, this is Philip the Evangelist folks.
that gets the Ethiopian eunuch saved right so we have great stories about him
now we see here that his daughters are successful
they're preaching the gospel they're soul winners they're virgins
but notice what the bible says about his character if you go back to
acts chapter six so acts 21 we see hey he's doing great
he's a great dad he's got great daughters now what about his character
I mean it's true some people children grow up to be spiritual who didn't even grow up in a Christian home, right?
So it's not always necessarily just cause and effect
But here the Bible does tell us the type of person he was verse one
It says in in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied
There arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily
ministration then the 12 called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said it is not reason that we should leave the word of God and
serve
tables. So the apostles are getting kind of overwhelmed with the administrative work of the ministry
and they need some help in that. They need to recruit some help to help with this. And it says in
verse number three.
Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report.
And notice this, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
So notice, they didn't say, hey, this is just menial work.
This doesn't mean anything.
We could just hire random people for minimum wage off the street.
No, he said, fine men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost.
Then it says in verse four.
But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.
And the saying, please, the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen,
a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. And notice, Philip.
So, when it comes to the type of person Philip is, we don't have to necessarily wonder, like,
hey, did this guy just kind of get lucky and, you know, he had four daughters that grew up to be virgins and prophesy.
No, we know that this was a man of honest report and full of the Holy Ghost.
That is a great testimony.
You know, us as dads, we should strive to be like Philip.
You know, we should strive to set the best example for our children because here is just the truth.
We have free will in this world, right?
So, you can, you know, do what's right and your followers still rebel against you.
That is 100% fact.
That can happen.
But I believe this.
I believe that you give your followers the best chance of turning out right.
The best chance of turning out spiritual when you yourself are spiritual.
When you yourself are full of the Holy Ghost, when you actually give a rip about the things of God.
You see, today there's millions of dads all across America who thought,
hey, it's Father's Day, I'm going to skip church and I'm going to go fishing.
I'm going to skip church and I'm going to go to the barbecue.
I'm going to skip church and I'm going to go camping.
And you know what they're doing?
They're setting a bad example for their family on Father's Day.
They're not seeking God.
They're not being spiritual on Father's Day.
What a shame that is.
You know what the testimony you should have is, hey, on Father's Day, you know what my
dad did?
He prioritized God.
He honored God.
Because you know what a real man of God does?
He doesn't sit here and honor himself and worry about himself and only celebrate himself.
Oh, it's Father's Day.
It's all about me.
No, it's all about God the Father.
It's all about Jesus Christ.
That's the testimony I want to leave for my kids.
That, hey, on Father's Day, Dad still went to church.
Dad still read his Bible. Dad still went soul-winning.
Well, on Father's Day, Dad just cared about himself.
Because here's the thing.
If you skip church on Father's Day,
if you don't care about God on Father's Day,
you're probably not just doing it on Father's Day.
You're probably not a man that's full of wisdom
and of the Holy Ghost in general in your life.
And let me tell you something.
You are leaving a legacy for your family.
You ever heard the saying, like father, like son?
You know, last year I preached a whole sermon here
called like father, like son.
And you know, you constantly see in the Bible that,
oh, this king did that which is wicked,
like his fathers did.
Oh, he walked in the ways of his fathers.
Or sometimes you see the good example,
how this king did that which is right,
like his father did.
and you are setting the tone.
You are leaving a legacy for your children
and not just the things that you say,
not just the commandments that come out of your mouth.
Who you are in your life
is who your children will remember you to be.
And here, Philip, you know, he grows,
his children grow up and he has four daughters
that are virgins, that are soul winners.
I mean, wouldn't we all just love to press that button
and have our kids turn out to be clean and pure and godly
and zealous for the things of the Lord?
Wouldn't we all push that button?
Well, guess what?
You need to be a man of honest report and full of the Holy Ghost and you know what that's not
going to happen when you are kind of this half in half out Christian dad where sometimes we'll
see at church you'll be free to thrive for one week and then you'll go a couple months where
you won't be you're just wishy washy you go soul winning once in a great you know once in a blue
moon every once in a while you do something spiritual every once in a while you're consistent
and plugged into the things of God but most of the time you're just selfish
Most of the time you're just living for yourself and worried about you and your plans and your ideas
Let me tell you something that will affect your family and that will affect your leadership and the way that people view you
The credibility you have with them. Look if you want to give your kids the best chance
You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit
Go to if you will, Acts 21, Acts 21.
Zechariah 4-6 says this,
then he answered in spake unto me saying,
this is the word of the Lord unto his rubbable saying,
not by might nor by power, but by my spirit.
Sayeth the Lord of hosts.
Hey, Dads should be strong.
Dads should be mighty.
We should be strong in every area of life.
But you know what?
Pure strength and pure will is not going to
get the job done when it comes to spiritual leadership.
You know what's gonna be done,
how it's gonna be done is by the Spirit of God.
Number five, this evening, spiritual leadership,
we need to protect our family.
from sin. Notice again what it says in verse 9 of Acts 21 and the same man had
four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. You know, I don't think that your
children reached the marriage offer altar pure just by pure accident. And
especially four daughters, you know, it sounds like dad was proactively doing
something to protect his family from sin.
It sounds like he was actually setting up some safeguards and some rules and actually
having some supervision and oversight to ensure that his daughters weren't defiled.
You know, you have Dinah, what happens with her?
She goes out and she's unsupervised.
She's just hanging out with the daughters of the land, going around doing whatever.
No one's watching her and then she ends up getting seduced.
She ends up committing the sin of fornication and it's like no one was there to guide her
We need to make sure we protect our children from sin.
Go to Deuteronomy chapter 22.
Deuteronomy chapter number 22,
I'll show you this principle,
how it is the father's responsibility
to protect his children,
and specifically his daughter's virginity
is something that the Bible talks about.
Look at Deuteronomy 22 verse 13.
If any man take a wife and go in unto her and hate her,
give occasions of speech against her and bring up an evil name upon her and say
I took this woman and when I came to her I found her not a maid you know by the
way it used to be an evil and shameful thing when you got married and you were
not a virgin
It used to be something that the husband, if he married a woman and found out, oh, she
was lying to me, that was marital fraud.
That was a crime that was wicked, and today people don't value virginity like they used
to.
But you know what?
God values it.
It says, then, verse 15, shall the daughter of the damsel.
Sorry, the father of the damsel and her mother take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's
virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate.
So notice, there was literal physical evidence that the father and mother would present to
the elders, to the people judging.
And it says in verse 16, and the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my
occasions of speech against her saying I found not thy daughter he made and yet these are the
tokens of my daughter's virginity and they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city
and the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him. So
This man it ended up coming out through the legal process here that he was lying against this woman that
He was claiming that she was not a maid that she was not a virgin
But he was lying about her and how was it proven that she was lying?
Well, the father and the mother had to take the tokens of virginity to prove the fact that hey when I gave this
Woman to this man. She was a maiden. She was a virgin and I think that the
spiritual principle there is that us as fathers and even mothers too that we have a responsibility
and a duty to protect our children's virginity and to ensure that they reach the marriage
altar pure not defiled so that this situation can't happen where oh just I married this
woman thought she was a maid and she's lying and you know obviously I'm not an expert in
And I think that parents are extremely naive who think that they can just let their daughters go off unsupervised all over town with whoever and just hope and pray that she'll reach marriage.
Pure. Let me tell you most of the case that's not going to happen.
And again, I think that I've just seen so many naive parents
where they think like, well, my Johnny would never
or my Susie would never.
Yes, they would.
No, but you don't know my kids.
I don't need to know your kids
because here's what I know about your kids
is that they're sinners and that they have the flesh
and that all of us as teenagers and as young adults,
this is like the biggest temptation for people.
And you are just insane if you think,
well, my kid was in church, so that can never happen, wrong.
It can happen, it does happen,
and you better not have this naive thought.
My son would never, my daughter would never.
Yes, they would.
And so you need to make sure to protect them.
And look, it's not like you're being mean,
or you don't love them, you do love them.
You do want them to have a successful marriage
and a happy marriage and not ruin themselves
by sleeping around with a bunch of people
who aren't going to be their husband or their wife someday.
You know that that type of baggage into marriage often causes life long problems.
And so if you love your kids, you want to spare them of that pain and yeah,
they might not like you during the teenage years when you're laying down rules and you're having,
you know, supervision and all these things.
But hey, you want your kids to be pure.
Go to Proverbs chapter number five.
You know what else this means, like if you're going to protect your family from sin, of course, yeah, you got to supervise, you got to make rules, you got to have safeguards.
But you also should warn your children about specific sins.
You know, I've kind of talked about this before, how like, when it comes to sexual sins, it's often very taboo in the old IFB, so much so where they won't even talk about it, they won't even warn about it.
But notice what the Bible says in Proverbs 5 verse 8.
He's talking to his son, remove thy way, far from her, and come not nigh, the door of his house.
Hey, here this dad is specifically warning his son about horse.
He's sitting his son down, he's saying, hey, watch out for the strange woman.
Here's what she does, here's her tactics, here's what she dresses like, here's where she hangs out,
and here's the consequences of if you mess up. Verse 9.
lest thou give thine honor unto others, and thy years unto the cruel, lest strangers be filled with thy wealth, and thy laborers be in the house of a stranger,
and thou mourn at the last when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, and say, how have I hated instruction, and my heart despised for proof,
and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to them that instructed me."
You know, if you actually love your children, you don't want them to come to this point of their life.
Where you know what they weren't warned about the whore or they weren't warned about the whore monger
And they go and they commit these wicked sins and then their life is destroyed. They're just like I wish I would have harkened
I wish I would have listened to the people that warned me
And wouldn't that just break our hearts as parents to see our children hit rock bottom and ruin their life in that type of way
Obviously if that happens, we're gonna love them. We're gonna do everything we can to help them
But I'd rather just not have to deal with that someday
I just rather them not have to ruin their lives in that way someday.
And so that's why I think Solomon is sitting here saying,
hey, remove thy way far from her.
Watch out for this type of woman.
And if there's anyone that knows about this type of woman, it's Solomon.
You know, he's got a lot of experience when it comes to this area.
And notice what it says in verse 14.
He doesn't just warn him about the evil.
He gives him the solution.
I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
He says, drink waters out of thine own cistern.
and running waters out of thine own well.
Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad
in rivers of waters in the streets.
Let them be only thine own and not strangers with thee."
So notice, he doesn't just warn about the whore.
We shouldn't just warn about the whore monger and the whore,
but he gives the solution.
He actually tells his children,
hey, this is the godly path.
This is the godly way of taking care
of those normal desires someday.
You say, I don't want to have that conversation.
I don't want to talk to them about this.
This is the inspired word of God.
Yes, this is a father and his son,
and a son, you're a father writing to his son,
but this is also the inspired words of God.
So I don't think talking about this to your kids
is weird or wrong or taboo.
No, you should.
Why?
Because it's your job to protect them from sin
as the spiritual leader of your home.
Hey, we talk about sin in this church, don't we?
Don't we call out sins specifically?
Don't we talk about them?
Don't we talk about the consequences?
Don't we talk about ways to avoid it?
Okay, what's the difference in your home?
You should be doing the same thing.
go to Ephesians chapter number six. Ephesians six. Ephesians chapter number
six. We'll finish on this verse here. Notice what the Bible says, and ye fathers
provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord. Again, when it highlights the role of a father
Like I said, we have many different roles that we play as dads, you know,
we could be the buddy playing ball with the kids.
We can teach our kids how to do things, how to exercise, how to eat properly,
how to change a tire. Like there's all these different roles that we have as dads
and all those things are great. We shouldn't diminish any of those things.
But when it comes to like, hey, God's telling us what to do. What does he say?
Bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
What does that mean? Hey, our most important role as dads is as spiritual
leaders, spiritual leaders of the home and you know what this sermon wasn't
necessarily just to pump up all the dads because you know what you have a very
grave and serious responsibility.
And maybe not every father's day,
do you just need to be patted on the back
and told how wonderful you are?
Maybe you need a reminder that you need to take your job
seriously as a spiritual leader.
And you know, if you want a pat on the back,
I'm buying you pizza this evening after service
and you'll have ice cream and floats
and we will celebrate you and we'll have a great time,
we'll play games, but here's the thing,
I want you to actually realize the gravity of your role.
I want you to take it seriously.
I want you not to think of, you know,
I'm just here to provide money.
I'm just here to be someone's friend.
I'm just here to discipline.
No, you're here to raise up the next generation
in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
And look, God helped me.
I pray that the Lord helps give me wisdom to do that.
But I just believe that these principles
that we talked about today are the best ways to do that.
Number one, read your Bible.
Number two, be a benevolent dictator.
Number three, pray for your family.
Number four, be filled with the Spirit.
Number five, protect your family from sin.
Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you for the dads here
and the sacrifices that they make.
I pray that you would just fill us with the Holy Spirit,
that you'd give us strength to do the difficult job
that we have with your power and your wisdom.
And I pray that you would guide every single one of us
to be a good spiritual leader for our wife
and for our kids.
In Jesus' name we pray.
last hymn this morning turn if you would to hymn number 51 where we'll never grow
old hymn number 51 five one where we'll never grow old we'll sing they're
starting right on the first
are dismissed.