hearts to receive your word and did you say we pray amen amen
all right we're in second kings chapter 17 here look down to your bibles at verse 38
it says here in the covenant that i have made with you ye shall not forget neither shall you
fear other gods but the lord your god ye shall fear and he shall deliver you out of the hand
of your enemies how be it they did not hearken but they did after their former manner says in
verse 41 so these nations feared the lord and served their graven images both their children
and their children's children as did their fathers so do they unto this day and the title
of sermon this morning is like father like son like father like son and i'm taking it from verse
41 where it states as did their fathers so do they unto this day what we're seeing here in
second kings chapter 17 is what happens when fathers parents so to speak but more so the
fathers do not reinforce what it is to to fear the lord to serve god to teach them the statutes
and ordinances of the word of god and the ramifications of that as you have this mixed
type of a worship where they're they claim to be worshiping god they claim to be fearing the lord
but in actuality they're still serving these pagan gods now obviously the children who are in this
generation that we're looking at in second king 17 they're responsible for their own actions
they're responsible for the for the things that they do and and the pay you know the pagan worship
that they're responsible for however it's due in part to their fathers it's due in part to the fact
that their dads did not put their foot down they did not teach them the right ways of the lord the
bible tells us train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart
from it the promise is if we train children properly they're going to serve god now are
the exceptions to that rule absolutely because we believe in what's called free will and sometimes
when you're training children no matter how much bible you give them no matter what type of
environment you provide for them they still make their own decisions later on in life and you can't
blame yourself for those things we're not calvinists amen but the adage is still true
the adage is still true the apple does not fall fall far from the tree like father like son if
you have the dad who's worshiping pagan gods and is doing wicked things it's more likely that the
child is going to have a predisposition to do the same exact thing now does it have to be that way
no you know if your dad was a drunkard if your dad was involved in drugs and was not a christian
to not serve the lord the same does not have to be said of you right you know if you don't come
from a christian home if you don't come from a christian family you know your your mom and dad
were not christians for whatever it may be they were part of some other type of religion or maybe
they were just atheists that doesn't have to be said of you you can still serve god because of
the fact that we have a free will we have a choice now there's a victim mentality out there that says
well i can't serve god because of my dad well i can't serve god because of my family well i have
trouble being consistent and faithful and holy because of my family that's nonsense right because
we all have a free will we can choose to live until the lord we can choose to live unto the
world okay at the end of the day it's our choice and it says there as did their fathers so do they
unto this day the term like father like son is a term that is used to describe when a son's
character and actions can be expected to resemble that of his father now obviously there is like a
a genetic reason for that as well you know those of you who are dads those of you who are parents
sometimes you look at your son or your daughter and they tend to do things exactly the way you do
them you know when you're a child they make certain facial expressions you know they use
their hands or they say certain things they behave in a certain way when you say man that's
like your dad your dad is in you you know or you that's like your mom because that's a genetic thing
but there is a spiritual aspect behind it as well now turn with me if you would to exodus
chapter 20 if you would exodus chapter 20 title of the sermon is like father like son now this
can be true for both the good and the bad you know we can impart good qualities into our children
but in like manner we could also impart bad qualities as well and in fact we're going to
do both because we're sinners there's no parent in here that's perfect there's no parent that
does everything perfectly right we never mess up we never have any mistakes we don't have any flaws
you know we're not infallible we're going to make mistakes therefore what's going to happen
is we're going to produce children that have both of our strengths and our weaknesses but
would to god that we would have more strengths than weaknesses would to god that we would impart
more strengths more godliness than fleshliness you see even though we're going to impart both
natures into our children at the end of the day we can do something to counteract that by living
a godly life having a godly environment in our home seeking to serve the lord you know don't be
the type of parent who says well you know yeah you know like like father like son you know the
apple doesn't fall far from the tree therefore i'm not even going to try to live a godly life
you know i'm just going to show up to church every once in a while i'm going to read my bible every
once in a while i'm going to emphasize the things of god every once in a while my son has a free
will and you know i'm just going to let the chips fall where they may no we want to make sure we set
an environment that is conducive to spiritual growth we want to make sure we keep jesus christ
as the centerpiece of our home amen right and at that point we give the rest up to god right
now i'm gonna read to you from exodus 34 you're in exodus chapter 20 i'm gonna read to you from
exodus 34 verse 7 says keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin
and that will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth generation
now here the bible is telling us is that god will visit the iniquity of the father the sins
of the father even upon the generations to come after him now you say well that's not fair you
know how is it that the children are going to be punished for the things that the father does well
let's clarify what that means look at exodus 20 verse 5 it says thou shall not bow down thyself
to them nor serve them for i the lord thy god am a jealous god visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation look what it says of them
that hate me and showing mercy unto thousands of them that what love me and keep my commandments
so what is the bible telling us yeah he'll visit the iniquity of the fathers unto the children
if they hate him he'll visit the iniquity of the fathers unto the children if they don't love him
but you know what if you produce a child who loves the lord who keeps god's commandments god will not
visit you for the sins of your father but because what he's saying is this you're you have the
predisposition to behave just like your dad you have the predisposition to commit the same acts
and sins as your father did but you know what if you keep god's commandments if you seek to love
the lord if you seek to read the bible and live a life that's pleasing unto him he's not going to
visit you for that but the principles still range true like father like son okay now go with me if
you would to genesis chapter 12 genesis chapter 12 obviously we all have a predisposition predisposition
of sin i mean adam right not this adam congratulations adam by the way every time i
mention adam he just gets red in the face yeah you should right no i'm just kidding
we are descendants of adam therefore we have a sin nature right now we don't believe in this
catholic doctrine that teaches you know uh original sin you know that when a baby is born
that that baby automatically is a sinner and therefore we have to baptize him because if we
don't the child dies he's gonna go to hell that's false that's that's wicked it's a wicked teaching
it's heresy but what we do believe is that what the bible tells us in romans 5 12 wherefore
as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that
all have sinned you see because we're descendants of adam therefore we have inherited his sin nature
like father like son now let's look at some examples in the bible of this principle here
and how we can apply it to our lives what about abraham isaac and jacob i mean when you think of
the principle of like father like son you see it perfectly exemplified within the lives of these
three men right here okay look at genesis 12 verse 9 now who is abraham well prior to being
called abraham his name is abram the bible tells us in genesis chapter 12 that he was called out
of his land to go into a land that god would show him he is known as the father of faith and
man he did have a lot of faith he left the land of his father to go to a land which he knew not
okay and he exercised a lot of faith but let me say this he also was very fearful he's a very
fearful man now hebrews 11 is the faith chapter right and it mentions abraham multiple times
within that chapter but you know let me say this it's mentioning what he did in his new man okay
because if you read the story of abraham there's time when he had lapses of faith we're going to
look at one right now look what it says in verse number nine and abraham journeyed going on still
toward the south and there was a famine in the land and abraham went down into egypt to sojourn
there for the famine was grievous in the land so he left the land that god told him to go to
because why because there was a famine in the land now where did he go to egypt what is egypt
the picture of the world so how do we apply this to us today well it's like this sometimes we're
going to go through a difficult time a spiritual famine so to speak where things are not abundant
as they used to maybe you don't have an abundance of joy an abundance of resources and you know what
the temptation is to go to egypt to go to the world to go satisfy your flesh and do things that
are not pleasing unto the lord but you know what god wants us to do is just stay put stay put
because god can provide for us even when there's a famine the location where we're located at does
not matter whether god's blessing can be there or not god can bless us no matter where wherever
god is that's where goshen is amen since there was a famine in the land abraham went down into egypt
to sojourn there for the famine was grievous in the land and it came to pass when he was come near
to enter into egypt that he said unto sarah his wife behold now i know that thou are a fair woman
to look upon what does that mean he's like i know you look good you're beautiful gorgeous so he's
kind of like setting her up here look you're you're a beautiful woman all right verse 12
therefore it shall come to pass when the egyptians shall see thee that they shall say this is his
wife and they will kill me but they will save thee alive because look you look so good that
you're gonna get me killed it's a good pickup line right
verse 13 say i pray thee thou are my sister
now let me just say this is that sarah sarah is his half sister but look you don't want to
necessarily mention that you don't want to introduce her as your half sister this is my wife
and the reason he's saying hey make sure you say you're my sister because he doesn't want to die
what does he he's fearful he's a coward that it may be well with you no well with me and look
what he says for thy sake he's like you need me you know what i mean so i was like i'm like the
best thing since sliced bread you don't want me to die do you right for thy sake and my soul shall
live because of thee and it came to pass that when abram was coming to egypt the egyptians
beheld the woman that she was very fair he was right about that you know she's beautiful a
beautiful woman the prince is also a pharaoh saw her and commended her before pharaoh and the woman
was taken into pharaoh's house and he entreated abram well for her sake oh good night so they
take sarah and he just lets he just he's like yeah just go with them you know and then he's
being treated well so he's not saying like hey no we've gone too far this is actually my wife guys
okay he's not doing that he treated abram well for her sake and he had sheep and oxen and he
had and he asses and men servants and maid servants and she asses and camels so what's
going on here well keep in mind there's a famine in the land okay so he's just like well god's
working this out together for good you know we're getting some resources just kind of sarah just
play along a little bit this isn't right by the way okay and the lord plagued pharaoh and his
house with great plagues because of sarah abram's wife and pharaoh called abram and said what is
this that thou has done it to me why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife why sayest thou
she is my sister so i might have taken her to be my wife to meet a wife now therefore behold thy
wife take her and go thy way and pharaoh commanded his men concerning him and they sent him away and
his wife and all that he had he's like what are you doing get out of here you know why didn't you
tell me you choose your wife he didn't answer oh because i was afraid he just kind of you know with
the she-asses and all these see all the resources they gave him now go to genesis uh chapter 20
genesis chapter 20 so we see here that the father of faith abraham the great man that we see in
hebrew chapter 11 we see him have a lapse of faith where he's so scared that he's not willing
to claim his wife as his wife he says this is my sister you know this is a very um it's like a punk
move you know be honest with you by the way sarah's really godly because she just like went
along with it like all right you know and she still called him lord in spite of the fact he
was fearful and afraid you know she's a godly woman and she's still following him even after
this right look at genesis 20 verse 1 and abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country and
dwelled between cadence and shore and journeyed and gerar and abraham said unto sarah of sarah
his wife she is my sister you would have thought he would like learn from this so he's just like
hey work once maybe we could work again she is my sister and abimelech king of gerar sent and took
sarah but god came to abimelech in a dream by night and said to him behold thou art but a dead
man for the woman which thou hast taken for she is a man's wife and but abimelech had not come
near her and he said lord will thou slay also a righteous nation said he not unto me she is my
sister and she even she herself said he is my brother and the integrity of my heart innocency
of my hands have i done this and god said unto him in a dream yea i know that thou didst it this
in the integrity of thine heart for i also withheld thee from sinning against me therefore
suffered i need not to touch her look what it goes on to say we'll stop there so what do we
see we see him repeating that same sin of being fearful afraid and let me just say this when fear
enters your heart that's the worst time to make any type of decision when fear enters your heart
because fear creates imaginations and imaginations is a powerful tool in your mind in order to help
you to manifest that into reality you know it's used for the good and for the bad right
i mean if we imagine for god and the things that we can do for god and the souls that we can win
you know growing the church raising godly children becoming a godly husband or a godly wife you know
we imagine those things we can manifest those things because we're thinking upon them okay
think on these things but in like manner you know when you fear those things can actually
manifest themselves as well and what we see here is because he was afraid he ended up just lying
he ended up being a coward i mean this is basically a blotch on his record so to speak
because he was fearful now go to genesis 26 genesis chapter 26 but look that's not to take
away from his faith he had a lot of faith he had faith that they were going to have children they
had isaac the promised child when god commanded abraham to sacrifice his son he was willing to do
it accounting that god was able to raise him from the dead the bible says i mean this man had a lot
of faith and let me say this is that you know sometimes we talk about having faith but really
what it is is just walking in the spirit because the spirit always has faith the spirit always
believes spirit always has hope so in order to increase our faith we just need to walk in the
spirit more this is why we see him kind of having a lapse of faith but then you know or being
fearful but then having faith being afraid but then being bold you know being afraid but still
willing to obey the lord because he's going back and forth from the old man to the new man so to
speak look at genesis 26 verse 1 this is referring to isaac now okay and there was a famine in the
land beside the first famine that was in the days of abraham and isaac went into abimelech king of
the philistines and togeirah so again we see the same actions being taken here and the lord appeared
into him and said go not down into egypt dwell in the land which i shall tell thee of sojourn in
this land and i will be with thee and bless thee for unto thee and unto thy seed i will give all
these countries and i will perform the oath which i swear into abraham thy father and i will make
thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven will give unto thy seed all these countries and in thy
seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed because that abraham obeyed my voice and kept my
charge my commandments my statutes and my laws and isaac dwelt at gerar and the men of the place
asked him of his wife and he said she's my sister well i wonder where he learned that from
like father like son like well you know my dad told me a couple stories about that and then
hooked him up with some with some some cattle with some sheep she's my sister
she is my sister for he feared feared to say she is my wife lest said he the men of the
place should kill me for rebecca because she was fair to look upon now he got himself a
beautiful wife just like his dad did but in like manner he was just as fearful as his dad to the
point now abraham sarah was still abraham's half sister rebecca is not his half isaac's half
sister now what does that tell us that tells us this principle right here what you do in moderation
your children will do in excess what you do whatever sins you commit moderately your children
will do excessively they'll do the same sins excessively because she's not rebecca is not
isaac's sister but he still said she's my so he just completely completely lied abraham at least
told the half truth right verse eight and it came to pass when he had been there a long time that
abemilah king of the philistines looked out the window and saw and behold isaac was sporting with
rebecca his wife and abemilah called isaac and said behold of assurity she is thy wife
how sayest thou she is my sister i mean are you from the south or what no i'm just kidding
you're from kentucky and isaac said to him because i said lest i die for her oh that's
he's like i don't want to die for her because of her wow you're just like you're just a bold
knight in shining armor coward and abemilah said verse 10 what is this that that was done into us
one of the people might lightly have lying with thy wife and now shouldest have brought
guiltiness upon us and abemilah charged all his people saying he that toucheth this man or his
wife shall surely be put to death so they let them go what do we see there like father like son and
look is it any coincidence that we see the same exact phrase the same exact thing the famine in
the land him coming down and yeah he didn't go all the way down into egypt because god is basically
saying look you're weak okay just dwell on this land that's another principle that we can learn
there is that sometimes when we disobey god we don't exercise faith god's not going to necessarily
punish us he's just going to give us a plan b instead of a plan a when you don't want to do
plan a god says okay there is a plan b and a plan c it's not my original plan but i can give you a
plan b and a plan c and you know it's not what his original intent is not the original blessing
but still better than anything else better than plan d e or f okay and that's what we see there
like father like son go to genesis chapter 27 genesis chapter 27 so what do we see here we see
that abraham though he was the father of faith he had a lot of faith there was times when he
relapsed in his faith he was a coward he was fearful and he actually instilled that within his son
isaac dads let me say this don't be fearful in front of your children i can't tell you not to
be fearful because being fearful is part of being in the flesh sometimes right you're in the flesh
sometimes you are afraid sometimes you're scared sometimes you don't know what's going to happen
but the important thing is this don't display that before your children as much as humanly possible
okay why because you are your children's security okay and if you show that you're afraid
then you're going to instill that within your children now i'm not saying that's not going
to happen every once in a while but you should not be characterized as a fearful person
especially in your own home okay display faith display trusting the lord display hope display
boldness all right fake it till you make it if you have to for your children's sake i'm being
honest okay so you have abraham you have isaac and then you have jacob now remember the principle
that i mentioned just a little bit ago what you do in moderation your children will do in excess
well jacob was a what the heel catcher and the deceiver look what it says in genesis 27 verse 36
and he said is not he rightly named jacob for he had supplanted me these two times he took
away my birthright and behold now he hath taken away my blessing and he said hast thou not reserved
a blessing for me this is esau speaking here now we're not going to go through the entire
these chapters here about jacob but jacob's life the very beginning of his life is characterized
by deception i mean he deceived his father into thinking that he was esau in order for him to get
the blessing and he was just a very deceptive person he deceived esau for his birthright
to the pottage he deceived his brother when when uh isaac was again when he was about to die
he put his hand upon him he put the fur upon his own arm to make him think that he's esau
i mean deception is what characterized jacob he lied a lot he spent a lot of his life just lying
now is it any surprise no because what his fathers did in moderation now he's doing in excess okay
i mean i say this is that you know there is a principle of a generational curse
when it comes to something like that where you have a dad for example a great grandfather
who is just a major liar he's a perjured person he's just a deceiver he he instills that in his
son and then his grandson and then his son after that and all of a sudden you just see a family
of just liars and i've seen that where a family literally is characterized by lying now you say
well does it have to be that way no it doesn't i'm talking about even for unsafe people it doesn't
have to be that way but more so even for christians why because we know the truth and when we get
saved we have the word of god and the word of god can teach us to be honest people to make sure we
don't have diverse uh weights because they're an abomination unto the lord we can learn to be honest
and truthful and we can break that generational curse okay you say well i drink because my daddy
drunk you know i'm an alcoholic because my dad is an alcoholic i smoke weed because my dad
smokes weed you know i do this because my dad does it yeah but you don't have to you choose
to do that i have anger issues because my dad was angry well control yourself there's the there's
the solution right there rule your spirit he that has no rule of his own spirit is like a city that
is broken down and without walls and what we need is a generation to rise up and stop making excuses
stop blaming the previous generations for the things that you struggle with
okay and i know i've already talked about this many times but that's the problem with black
lives matter what's going on in the country of chop it's a generation that's blaming a previous
generation for their shortcomings you know phooey with that if you're a christian we have the word
of god we have every resource available to us to be successful in life to be functioning members
of society folks i don't know it's this person's fault that i'm not i don't have a job no it's your
fault because you're just lazy it's your fault because you're lazy you don't have diligence
you're playing too many video games you spent your entire life playing grand theft auto
and that's why you're destroying vehicles and setting fire to different places and just
acting a fool being a part of this anarchy because that's all you did growing up
and you know what if that's what you did okay but you know what the bible tells us when i was a child
i spake as a child understood as a child i thought as a child but when i became a man i put away
childish things put away the grand theft auto put it in the toilet put it in a in a fire pit
somewhere and grow up you know stop blaming someone else for your misfortune you don't have
to live that way okay and jacob is an example of this now each of these sons were able to overcome
their flaws so to speak okay because they end up doing great things go to hebrew chapter 11
hebrew chapter 11 so just as the bad traits follow suit and like man the good qualities
did as well like father like son now duly noted if you grew up in a home where there's an alcoholic
there and there's there's drugs you know obviously you're going to have a little more to overcome
but it's still possible it's still possible to stop drinking it's still possible to stop smoking
and this is how you do it you join a church where they throw you out if you don't stop
right and then instill instills the fear of god in your life to say man i love my church
i love the people my church i love the lord i don't want to sin against god i want to make
sure that i live a clean life and i want to stay in church i don't want to suffer the embarrassment
and the shame of being kicked out of church you know that's a great motivation amen but how about
just being successful you know success should be a motivation for you to just get rid of those
bad habits and move forward for the lord like father like son so abraham as i mentioned is
known as the father of faith look at hebrews eight verse uh look at verse eight yeah let's
look at verse eight says by faith abraham when he was called to go on to a place which he should
after receive for an inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whether he went by faith
he's sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country dwelling in tabernacles with isaac
and jacob the heirs with him of the same promise for he looked for a city which hath foundations
whose builder and maker is god so his life ultimately was characterized by faith skip down
to verse 17 by faith abraham when he was tried offered up isaac and he that had received the
promises offered up his only begotten son of whom it was said that in isaac shall thy seed be called
accounting that god was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also he received him
in a figure i mean that's a great step of faith there to offer up his son isaac when god said hey
i'm going to give you a promise son here he is and all of a sudden he's like all right now you
got to sacrifice him and he did it he obeyed knowing full well that god was able to fulfill
his promise no matter what now look what it says in verse 12 by faith isaac blessed jacob and esau
concerning the things to come so we see that the faith that abraham had he instilled in his
children verse 21 by faith jacob when he was dying blessed both of the sons of joseph
and worship leaning upon the staff of leaning upon the top of his staff and we see jacob later
on being named israel by god he becomes a father of many nations he births basically the children
of israel the 12 tribes there and the rest is history now go with me if you would to
second samuel chapter 13 second samuel chapter 13 so this is not a gloom and doom sermon okay
this is not to tell you that your children are just going to be screw-ups and you know
if you're a screw-up well sucks for you you know that's where your children that's how your
children are going to turn out no i'm just saying that we need to recognize that there's a balance
to this and don't be surprised if your children inherit some of your weaknesses that's how life is
the goal is though is to have strengths to work on our christian lives to develop godly character
because that will be instilled in them as well okay
but in like manner we're going to instill good qualities in them as well
now let's look at the example of david because that's a great example
of this concept of like father like son david had 19 children a lot of kids okay you know but
however there's only a handful that are really prominent in the bible as far as their stories
are concerned and when you think of king david honestly you just think of good things right
i mean you think that he was a sweet psalmist of israel he was a man after god's own heart
you know we talked to children about david they immediately connected to david versus goliath
i mean he had a lot of exploits but wouldn't you agree that he had a lot of weaknesses as well
i mean he he committed some of the horrible sins in the old testament that will forever be
remembered when you visit the genealogy in matthew chapter one of jesus christ
you know you talk about uraya you know who was the husband of bathsheba i mean he constantly
references uraya and bathsheba and that sin that was committed because it was such a blotch on his
on his record okay one of the glaring weaknesses that he has he committed adultery with bathsheba
and conspired to have her husband killed as well so really bad sin that he did in his life
now fortunately of course that's why we have psalm 51 his repentance psalm where he got right
with god he repented of that sin and he moved forward for the lord and look he died in a good
old age he didn't die because of his sin he got right with god and he died basically the way
anybody i would guess would want to die old man on his deathbed with his family surrounding him
and that's how he went home to be with the lord okay even though he did a lot of great exploits
even though he made a lot of mistakes now one of his sons the first son actually is his name is
amnon okay look at second samuel 13 and verse 11 so let me give you a backstory of amnon amnon
is his son but amnon had this inordinate affection towards his half-sister tamar
which is david's daughter as well and he loved tamar he was obsessed with tamar he had this
obsession over her and you know he thought it hard to do anything towards her but the
bible tells us that amnon had a friend and his friend came and basically convinced him to rape
his sister okay very wicked thing here look at verse 11 it says and when she had brought them
unto him to eat he took hold of her and said unto her come lie with me my sister and she answered
him nay my brother do not force me for no such thing ought to be done in israel do not thou this
folly and i whether shall i cause my shame to go and as for thee thou shall be as one of the fools
in israel now therefore i pray thee speak unto the king for he will not withhold me from thee
how be he would not hearken unto her voice but being stronger than she forced her and lay with
her then amnon hated her exceedingly so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the
love wherewith he have loved her and amnon said unto her arise be gone very wicked evil sin that
he committed here and why did he do this what is it that predisposed him to this well i believe
it's because of his father's sin as well okay and what david did in moderation he also chose to do
in excess now does it stop here no it doesn't because of the fact that absalom who is tamar's
brother hears about this and basically conspires to kill amnon so you have all these conspiracies
taking place of you know rape and murder well that's exactly what david was involved in
he was involved in rape but he was involved in sexual sins and he was also involved in the
you know conspiring to murder someone and guess what that's exactly what his sons do why because
like father like son it's a sad story but it's in the bible to show us hey dads we have a great
responsibility don't take your position lightly don't think well i'm just going to do whatever
i do and have no influence over my children's life no your very life is an influence on your
children's life your very behavior the way you act the way you talk the way you think everything
influences your children look let me just say this my son he's three years old he's about to
be four in august you know i've never taught him i've never told him hey bruce repeat after me
false prophets are wicked dispensationalism is wicked son repeated after me i've never said that
to him but you know what he does when he goes to my in-house house he's like preaching to them
he's just like dispensationalism is wicked
you know false prophets are wicked that's sinful and all these things because that's what he hears
right now i'll be honest with you you know what i do in moderation he doesn't excess
sometimes everyone's just wicked and we have to tell him no the fire department is not wicked son
he's like they are not wicked these people are not wicked he's just like
uh or will pass by a church a building and he's like dad are they wicked and i i miss the
building so i don't know if it's like a church of christ or just the baptist i'm like i don't know
yes or no dad yes or no and sometimes i have to roll the dice and say yeah i'm just kidding
well what i do in moderation he doesn't access you know i've told the story before it's funny
you know he was uh at our door and there's a gate it's a gated door and there's a little
girl across from him and her name is abby and he sees her he's like abby he's like hi
and he's like dispensationalism is wicked okay like there's one truth he wants to get across is
that you know now that's good but i'll be honest with you you know sometimes he gets a little out
of hand where it's like my wife and i have to tame him and say hey bruce not everyone is
wicked just calm down man you know just not everyone okay and now you know now he's learning
it's like okay they're wicked this is what he says now well they're wicked but they just need to get
saved and i'm like you need to get saved you still need to get saved man okay he's like okay it's
like i said he's not wicked okay no no he's wicked but he just needs to get saved dad
i'm like all right he needs to get saved yeah like father like son okay
absolutely ended up conspiring against amin had him killed you know absolutely created
this conspiracy again and that's just like his dad now go to first kings chapter 11 if you would
first kings chapter 11
now thankfully romans 828 exists amen because all things work together for good to them that love
god to them who are the called according to his purpose and the same that's not just the new
testament thing that's in the old testament as well because we see that the ungodly union between
bathsheba and david god actually ended up working that together for good and who was the product of
that relationship solomon solomon who's the wisest man that ever lived who wrote the book
of proverbs who wrote the book of ecclesiastes you know he's a godly young man he became the
king thereafter that was a good product of this whole relationship and it's not it doesn't mean
like that was god's original intent what it means is that god can work it out together for good
and you know what solomon exerted the good qualities of david he was wise he was godly
he loved the lord however like father like son look what it says in verse number one
of first kings 11 but king solomon loved many strange women
oh yeah a big surprise there right together with the daughters of pharaoh women of the
moabites ammonites edomites zydonians and hitites i mean he's not a racist folks
red and yellow black and white they're all precious in his sight
of the nations concerning which the lord said unto the children of israel
ye shall not go in to them neither shall they come in unto you for surely they will turn away
your heart after their gods solomon clave unto these in love and he had 700 wives
good night princesses and 300 concubines girlfriends and his wives turned away his heart
look folks you say well david didn't do that i know what he did in moderation solomon did
excessively 700 wives excessively okay princesses and 300 concubines and what was the end result
they turned away his heart from the lord unfortunately like father
like son now look when we think of solomon though we think of what wisdom we think of the great
exploits that he did we think of the book of proverbs we think of the book of ecclesiastes
yeah we think of some of the weaknesses that he had but you know we're not reading a we're
reading a perfect book but we're reading about people who are imperfect right and we're reading
about people who just tried their best to raise their children they got some of the bad traits
but they also got a lot of the good ones as well okay now who's the best example of like father
like son jesus because he's like his father right and you know what there he only got good qualities
because god is only good the bible says in john 8 29 and he that sent me is with me the father
hath not left me alone for i do always those things that please him now turn with me if you
would to uh let me see here go to second corinthians chapter six second corinthians chapter six
now let's let's let's talk about us for example because the bible tells us but as many as received
him to them gave you power to become the sons of god even into them that believe on his name and
the bible tells us that when we believe on jesus christ we become children of god we become sons of
god sons and daughters of god now the good thing with this relationship between us and
god the father is this there's only good to take from him there's only good traits that we can get
from god because god is only good so any bad thing that happens it's the bible tells us for me that
is in my flesh dwells no good thing okay so we can't blame god for any mistakes that for any
things that happen in our lives you know we need to have the same attitude as joe when he said
that he did not charge god foolishly don't blame god for your misfortunes don't blame god you know
that an evil came upon you he may have allowed bad things to happen in your life but he's not
the one responsible he doesn't want to hurt you he doesn't want you to be a drunkard he doesn't
want you to be you know a marijuana addict he doesn't want you to be a whore he doesn't want
you to be a fornicator he doesn't want you to die you know he wants you to live he wants you
he wants to bless you is what he wants to do but if you choose a different path that's up to you
because when we become children of god we have an opportunity to be partakers of his divine
nature the bible says the bible tells us in hebrews 11 for they barely for a few days chasing
us after their own pleasure but he referring to god for our prophet that we might be partakers
of his holiness hey we can be like unto god the father in his holiness if we choose to live right
if we choose to obey him if we choose to live separated lives second peter one forces whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these ye might be partakers of
the divine nature have an escape to corruption that is in the world through lust now look at
second corinthians 6 16. so how do we do that how do we get the good traits from god
and how do we shun our bad traits well look at second corinthians 6 verse 16 what agreement has
the temple of god with idols fear the temple of the living god is god that said i will dwell in
them and walk in them and i will be their god they shall be my people wherefore come out from
among them and be separate saith the lord and touch not the unclean thing and i will receive
you and will be a father unto you and you shall be my sons and daughters saith the lord almighty
you know our lives should be characterized by placing an effort into being separated from the
world being separated from things that are displeasing unto him when we choose to live
an ungodly life we're living in the flesh and we're not behaving as children of god
but when we make the conscientious effort to say you know what i'm going to be in church
i'm going to read my bible i'm going to pray i'm going to think upon the lord i'm going to win
souls to christ and i'm just going to do my best because look guys god doesn't expect you to be
perfect as far as sinless because that's impossible but he does expect for us to put an effort
you know to just do what you can that's what we need to do okay go to psalm 127 and we'll finish
here and this is true especially when it comes to raising children okay now what do i mean by that
you know we have a big responsibility as parents it's a huge responsibility
when i look at my children you know sometimes i see them play and i think to myself they have souls
like i want to see my son in the millennial reign i want him to be saved i want my daughter to be
saved i want his eyes to be safe and i need to make sure that i train them in the way
that they should go right we have a big responsibility now with that in mind you
also have to realize that there's only so much you can do though because we're not god we're not perfect
all we can do is what we can do and nothing more than that you understand as parents now if you're
if you're not a parent you probably don't understand what i'm saying but if you're a parent
you probably you you feel what i'm saying you vibing with me okay because sometimes you know
the future can be scary especially when you have children right you know you're going to be gone
and your children are going to be left here and it's just like man what do i do you know should
i go should i go into some cryogenic state and maybe they'll create some no the answer is this
just do everything you possibly can do to raise your children right
so what about the rest leave it up to god look at psalm 127 verse 1 to prove that
except mom and dad build the house they labor in vain in vain they built it no except the lord
build the house so you know what whose responsibility is it to build the house is god
now he uses us he says except the lord build the house they labor in vain they built it except the
lord keep the city the watchman wakens but in vain verse 2 it is vain for you to rise up early
to sit up late to eat the bread of sorrows for so he giveth his beloved sleep now verse
two is for all you parents out there who worry for your kids right you rise up early because
you're worried you sit up late because you're worried you eat the bread of sorrows because you
are hurting you know what god says that's vain don't do that go to sleep don't rise up early
sleep in i'm just kidding don't sit up late worrying go to sleep don't eat the bread of
sorrows why because god gives you sleep he gives his beloved sleep he's the one who's building the
house look at verse three low children are in heritage of the lord what does that mean
this is the inheritance that he's given to us okay and the fruit of the womb is his reward
he's like i'm giving you this this is my reward to you as children
as arrows are in the high at the hand of a mighty man sword the children of the youth
happy is the man that hath this quiver full of them they shall not be ashamed but they shall
speak with the enemies in the gate what is he saying look ultimately i gave you this these
children because i know you're capable of raising children do everything you can but just remember
this i'm the one who's building the house do everything you can humanly possible on your end
by obeying the word of the lord teaching them to observe the statutes and the and the ordinances
of god but at the end of the day i'm the one who builds the house yeah you should you the
watchman should should wake up but not in vain because here's the thing is that we need to
recognize the safeties of the lord right yeah yeah you know we need to make sure that we're not
laboring in vain how do we do that by making by recognizing that god ultimately is the one who
builds the house so if you're only able to do 40 of the work if that's all you can do
leave the rest unto god right because sometimes we stress and we worry and and and we we were
sorrowful for the things that we can't control things that are out of our hands and look if
this doesn't resonate with you it will in a couple years when you have if you have children now this
will resonate in 10 years from now this will resonate in 20 years you'll remember this because
parents worry sometimes and what we need to do as parents is recognize god is the one who's
building the house yeah but you just preach an entire sermon like father like son yeah do what
you can and the rest leave it up to the lord you know i don't come from a christian home my parents
aren't saved but i think i'm doing pretty good you know i got saved and and you know what um
thankfully my mom whooped me uh you know growing up you know she didn't give me spanking she gave
me beans but hey i'm not dead i'm not in jail i'm not part of some gang i'm not smoking crack
you know i'm a pastor of a church what i'm saying is this is that leave it up to the lord and look
my mom thankfully she's saved now you know my dad's not saved yet but my mom is saved and and
you know what i'm sure she was worried in times past what was going to happen to my children
she's not worried anymore how much more for us as christians who know what the bible says
you know so what i'm saying is this yes like father like son and you can insert their
daughter as well okay like mother like daughter but at the end of the day the main principle is
this do everything you can on your part and leave the rest of them to god now don't take that as a
ticket to say well just say yeah just leave it up to god you're gonna spank him no just leave it up
to god you know are you gonna are you gonna restrain him no god just gotta leave it up to the lord
no do everything on your part and leave the rest unto him let's bow our heads and have a word of
prayer father we thank you so much for your word and lord thank you for your mercy upon our lives
lord and god i thank you for the children you've given to us as a church so i rejoice to hear
about adam and louisa for example and the fact that they're going to have a child and
lord that's a blessing and i pray god that you'd give us all wisdom because we're not perfect and
you know that and um our children are gonna they're gonna have our bad attributes but
hopefully as as the years go by as we work on being godly and adding to our faith virtue that
we can impart unto them more godliness than than fleshliness i pray god that you give us wisdom to
raise our children help us to do all we can on our part but more than that help us to have faith that
when we reach our limit of what we can do we just leave the rest up to you because you're the one
that builds the house help us to do so we love you so much and we thank you pray these things
in jesus name amen