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...that we could read and an endless supply of things to preach, dear God, and great truths that are found in the Word of God. I just pray that you would help us to learn what we need to learn from today's message. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. I want to draw special attention in this story to the phrase that's at the end of verse 6 there, where the lady in the story says, They made me the keeper of the vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept. Mine own vineyard have I not kept is the title of the sermon this morning. Or the title could be, Keep your own vineyard. Keep your own vineyard. Well, in this story, I don't know if you know the story of Song of Solomon a little bit. It's talking about a woman here. And she's got several brothers and sisters. She's the outcast of the family. She's unliked by her other siblings there. And she gets to the end of her life, as it were, or she gets well into her life. And she looks back. She's worked. She's slayed. It says that her skin has just become black from just being in the sun constantly working her life away, working hard. But she gets to the end of her life, or at the end of this phase of her life, and she looks back and she just doesn't really have a lot to show for it. She says, Well, I was used by everyone else. I was doing everything that everybody told me to do and trying to please everybody. But I just haven't kept my own vineyard. I don't really have anything to show for it that I've done. I don't have anything that I've accomplished for myself. Well, what am I talking about? Well, I'm talking about there's really only a few people that you can please in life. Let's put it this way. You can't please everybody. I take my life, for example. I'm a husband. I'm a father. I'm a pastor. I'm an employee. And on and on the list goes. I'm a son. I'm a brother. I'm a nephew. I'm an uncle. All these things. I'm a friend, and there's no way in the world I'm going to be able to please everybody. And so I just have to say, Well, I'm going to please God, number one. And then, number two, I'm going to please my wife. Number three, I'm going to please my children. And number four, I'm going to please my boss. You know, pretty much by then, there's nothing left, is there? And so the point is, we've got to keep our own vineyard. We've got to make sure that we're not so concerned with what everybody else is doing that we let our own vineyard go to waste. What am I talking about? Well, they made me the keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard have I not kept. How about this one? They made me a Sunday school teacher, but my own children have I not taught the Word of God. Boy, it's so often that we're so interested in reaching everyone else, and we're so interested in getting everybody else saved and getting everybody else straightened out, and we let our own children go by the wayside. Men, I want to talk to you, sir. Teach the Word of God to your family. Before God ever ordained a local church, and I'm all for the local church. I think the local church is vital. We preached this last week or the week before on the importance of church and about how God has ordained the local church. He's died for the local church. He shed his blood for the local church. But before there was ever a church, there was a family before there was ever a church. I'm talking about in the Garden of Eden. God put a man and a woman, and they had children, and there was a family. God ordained Abraham to be a father of many nations, and he was a patriarch. He had a family that he ruled and that he taught the Word of God. God said to Abraham, well, he said to the angel that was with him, he said, Should I tell Abraham what I'm going to do to Sodom and Gomorrah? Because I know that he is going to teach his children after him to obey me, and so I'm paraphrasing, but he says I know that he's going to bring up his children. I know that he's going to train his children. He had servants that were trained in his own house. What's God saying? He's saying, look, men, you and your family have a responsibility to teach your wife and your children the Word of God. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 14, and this isn't popular, but in 1 Corinthians 14, the Bible says that women are supposed to keep silent in church, but it's not permitted unto them to speak. That means that they're supposed to learn in silence. Obviously, they're supposed to sing the songs with everybody. They're supposed to sing the songs and fellowshipping and so forth, but during the preaching, women are supposed to be quiet and listen is what the Bible says, and here's what it says, a great statement in 1 Corinthians 14. It says if they will learn anything, they have a question. It says let them ask their husbands at home. That's what it says because it's a man's responsibility. What's God teaching us in 1 Corinthians 14? A man has a responsibility in his home to teach the Word of God to his wife and his children. Don't rely on the church to do it alone, sir. Don't rely on the Christian school to do it. Don't rely on anybody to do it except you have a responsibility. I have a responsibility. I don't just rely on church. I take my kids aside, and I teach them the Bible. I teach them the things of God. I teach my wife the Bible. I teach her the things of God because I am the spiritual leader of my family, and it's my job to teach my family the Word of God. You see, I'm not going to keep other people's vineyards at the expense of keeping my own vineyard. I'm not just going to pastor a church and try to preach to everyone else and help everybody else's kids. I must keep my vineyard. Now, you say, why do you talk so much about child rearing? Well, I talk so much about child rearing because I see what goes on, and I see people who serve God, and they love God, but they will not rear their children. They will not train their children. And what happens? Look, I have three great purposes in life. I've thought about this before, and I've decided that I have three great purposes in my life. Purpose number one is to know God, as I preached about a couple weeks ago. Purpose number two is to reproduce myself physically in my children. And purpose number three is to reproduce myself spiritually through soul winning, through winning people to Christ, through training people to love. And there's not one person in this room who cannot do either reproducing themselves physically in their children and raising children that love and serve God, and also everybody in this room should be reproducing themselves spiritually by winning somebody to Christ, having a convert, having somebody that you win to the Lord. The great commission is to go ye therefore and teach all nations. That's preaching the gospel, get them saved. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. And number three is teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. That's the great commission. Reproducing yourself full circle, getting somebody saved like you were saved, getting somebody baptized like you've been baptized, and then teaching them to observe everything that God has commanded you. It's to make them like you. It's to make them a soul winner like you. And that's the great commission is for us to reproduce ourselves in others. Well, it's so vital that I reproduce myself after my own kind in my children. What good is it to have a bunch of kids and then they're nothing like me? They go out and they live like the devil and they go off the deep end and get into sin, and it's pointless. It's meaningless because I didn't reproduce myself. I may have physically had children, but I did not reproduce myself. And God's calling on us as Christians is, number one, be somebody that's worth reproducing and then reproduce yourself. That's what soul winning is. That's what having children is supposed to be. That is the Christian life. That is the message of the Bible. That's what Jesus Christ is doing. He's reproducing himself in us. He's bringing forth children to be like him. That's why the Bible says in Romans 8, 28, But we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. He says, if you're saved, everybody he knew who was going to be saved, he decided he wants them to be just like Jesus Christ. He wants us to be like Jesus. He wants me to be like Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ wants to reproduce himself in me. He wants me to be like him. He wants you to be like him. That's what he's doing. That's what we're doing as Christians. That's what life is about. Well, I've seen pastors of churches that have been successful men, great churches, great men, men that I look up to, heroes of mine, and I've looked at their sons. I mean, I'm talking about a 17, 18, 19-year-old boy, and he's just as effeminate as all get-out. He's a stinking queer little sissy. I just want to beat him. And it makes me wonder, sir, why have you not kept your own vineyard? You kept everybody else's vineyard. You built a great church for the glory of God. But if I had to choose between being me and you, I never want to be you because I will keep my vineyard at all costs. I'm not going to build a business for my boss at the expense of keeping my vineyard. I'm not going to build a church at the expense of keeping my vineyard. But God wants me to do both, and so I'll do both. But if one of them has to go, somebody else's vineyard is going to go first. My vineyard is going to be kept. My vineyard is going to be right. This vineyard will be right. As long as I'm breathing air, that's what I'm going to give myself to building this vineyard and keeping this vineyard right here, my family. The family is important. But what about this? They made me the keeper of the vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept. How about this? They made me a soul winner at church, and I went out door-to-door soul winning, but my own relatives have I not preached the gospel to. Boy, keep that vineyard. Keep your own vineyard. A great verse in the Word of God. I was reading this as I was studying this sermon. John 1.41, I'll just read it for you, but it talks about Andrew getting saved. Andrew, one of the disciples, you say, well, Andrew, of course we have Andrew here in the service, but Andrew, you say, well, I don't really know that much about Andrew. He's not exactly Peter, James, and John, is he? You don't hear about him quite as much. You hear about him a few times, but I love what it says about him in John 1.41. It says he findeth first his own brother Simon. First thing he did when he got saved. The first thing Andrew did when he got saved, he goes, the first thing he does, he says, I'm going to go find my brother and make sure that my brother is saved. And his brother Simon, who Jesus changed his name to Peter, well, there's a great apostle that you hear about. There's the man who wrote two books of the Bible. There's the man who preaches all the great sermons in the book of Acts. There is the man that God used greatly, but he never would have been used greatly if a man like Andrew hadn't have said, I will keep my vineyard. And the first thing I'm going to do now that I'm saved, I'm going to get my brother saved. I want him saved. That's my vineyard. This is my family. I want my family to be saved. Boy, keep your own vineyard. Get your family saved. You know, I was reading in the book of Romans chapter 1, and Paul says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to the Jew first and also to the Greek. You say, is God more concerned with getting Jews saved than Greeks saved? Of course not. God's not a respecter of persons. God doesn't go by what nationality someone is, whether he wants them saved. But you know why Paul is writing the book of Romans under the inspiration of God, and he's saying to the Jew first, because I'm a Jew. He says, I want to get my brother and saved. That's why it says in Romans 10, 1, Brother and my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved, for I bear the record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. And he says, my heart's desire is that Israel would be saved. Why? Because I'm Israel. I'm a Jew. He says, I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, of the tribe of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin. Let me read for you Romans chapter 9, verse 1. I just thought of this. But he says this. He says, I speak the truth in Christ and I lie not. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh, who are Israelites. He says, look, and this is one chapter before what he said, my heart's desire is for Israel to be saved. He says, I could wish myself accursed from Christ for my brethren, Israel. He says, my relatives are important to me to get them saved. Look, door-to-door soul winning, I will be a door-to-door soul winner until I die. Period. I don't care what anybody says. I don't care if it doesn't work. I don't care if somebody tells me it doesn't work. I will go door-to-door soul winning until I die. But, I'll be honest with you, the most results that I've had, I mean, I'm talking about just results of getting somebody saved, getting them in church, getting them baptized, getting them trained, making them a soul winner, has been friends, relatives, and especially co-workers, has been probably the three areas where I had the most success. Now, I never would have had that success if I hadn't have gone out door-to-door soul winning and been faithful and been faithful and learned how to be a soul winner, learned how to win people to Christ. God saw that I was being faithful. And then, boy, on the job is where I saw the people saved, in my vineyard, on the job, in my job, in my vineyard, in my family, in my vineyard, in my circle of friends. That's where I saw the great success. Door-to-door soul winning, yes, door-to-door soul winning or die, but winning people to Christ on the job, that's where you'll see a great amount of success. That's where you'll see a lot of times where you could actually maybe disciple somebody a little bit because you're seeing them all the time. That's why you've got to have the right testimony on the job so that they'll be able to respect you and you could be able to disciple them on the job, people in your family. You're seeing them again and again, and God can use you in a great way in your vineyard. He can use you in your vineyard. I think that's why in Acts chapter 1, God said, But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, that's number one, in Jerusalem, this is where you live, this is your city, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. But notice the order there. He says, I want you to be a witness to me in Jerusalem, in your backyard, across the street, in your neighborhood. Boy, the first thing I did when I moved here in December, I knocked every door in my subdivision here, first thing I did. Before I said, I'm going to try to reach Tempe, and I'm going to try to reach Phoenix with the gospel, I said, I'm going to reach my subdivision. I'm going to reach my neighborhood. I'm going to reach my little Jerusalem here because God wants us to reach our vineyard. If you're always working in somebody else's vineyard, you'll get to the end of your life, and you'll say, well, yeah, they made me the keeper of the vineyard, they sold me a bill of goods, they were angry with me, and they made me do all their work, and I haven't kept my own vineyard, I've got nothing to show for myself. What else am I talking about? They made me a Bible teacher, but my own Bible have I not read. They made me a nursery worker, but my own baby I dropped off at daycare. They made me a supervisor on the job, but my own family doesn't respect me. Man, I'd rather have my family respect me than for my boss to tell me I'm doing a good job, and for my customers to tell me I'm doing a good job. I want my family to respect me. I want to be able to walk into my house and command the respect of my wife and children because they can look at me and say, there's a godly man. I'd rather get the accolades at home than to get the accolades out in somebody else's vineyard. I'd rather get them at home than out in the business world. Now, obviously, I want to have both. I want to keep all the vineyards, but this is the vineyard that's the most important to me is what I'm trying to say this morning. How about this? They made me the pastor of the church, but my own convert have I not had. I'm the pastor of the church. I need to be a soul winner. I need to be winning people to Christ. I need to get people in church. It's for me, too, and having some title of keeping somebody else's vineyard, I need to keep my own vineyard and be a soul winner myself, not just preach on soul winning. How about this? They made me a missionary, but my own area have I not reached with the gospel. You know, I was thinking about this. When I was in California, I was going to a church in Rockland, California, a Baptist church, and I went there for two years. This is before I went to the good church that I went to, Regency Baptist Church. But I was going to this liberal church, and I went there. It was a Baptist church. I went there for two years, and nobody got saved the whole time I was there. You never even heard about anybody getting saved. Nobody was baptized the whole time I was there for two years, and I remember after about a year and a half of me being there, they took this big trip, and they went to Oaxaca, Mexico, and they had this big mission strip. Man, they trained for this. They geared up for this. This was a big deal. It was just adults that went, and they went down to this big trip to Mexico, and they were building houses and everything and some kind of a mission strip or what have you. And I remember they told us, they said, You do not believe this. We actually, when we were down there, they said, I mean, we went door to door in Mexico. They said, We have a translator. I mean, we hired this translator. I mean, they spent all this money. They go all the way down to Mexico. They got this translator with them. They're going up to people's doors. They're knocking the door, just cold door knocking. And through this translator, they're trying to get people in church and give them the gospel. Man, can you believe it? And they never did anything other than that. And I'm thinking to myself, What in the world? Why don't you care about the people here? You know, you come past sea and land to go preach the gospel down in Mexico. What's wrong with the guy across the street, sir? What's wrong with the people in your own backyard? What's wrong with your vineyard? You want to go to somebody else's vineyard, and that's why I would never support a missionary who's not a soul winner here in America. He's not going to be a soul winner when he gets to the field. Because if he won't keep his own vineyard, he's not going to keep their vineyard. Yeah, they went down there to Mexico, knocked a few doors for one day in their life, spent thousands and thousands of dollars to do it, but their own vineyard had they not kept. Their own area, they were just letting go to hell. Keep your own vineyard. Your own vineyard's what's the most important thing. Yeah, I was thinking about the verses in Matthew chapter 7. Turn to Matthew chapter 7, if you would. Matthew chapter 7, and look at verse number 1. This is a very famous passage in the Bible. This is from the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew chapter 7, verse number 1. The Bible says in Matthew 7, judge not that ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the mote out of thine eye? And behold, a beam is in thine own eye. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Now, here's the thing. A lot of people misinterpret this. This is something that the liberals, this is like their mantra. And they say, see, you can never judge anybody. You can never tell anybody that they're wrong. You just cannot judge, because judge not that ye be not judged. Well, the Bible says the spiritual man judgeth all things, and yet is judged of no man. See, the God is not against judging. All through the Bible, God tells us to judge righteous judgment. Here's what he's saying. He's saying, first, you need to straighten yourself out. You're so worried about judging everybody else. You always know what's wrong with everybody else, don't you? Well, why don't you look at yourself? There's usually more wrong with you. When you're judging other people, usually you've got something more wrong with you. You see, the beam in your eye, that's talking about a big, I mean, think about a beam. Think about a building that's held up by beams. You think of like a telephone pole. You think of a huge piece of wood. And then he says that you're looking at your brother saying, let me pull out the moat out of thine eye. It's just like a little splinter. He's saying, oh, you've got a beam in your eye, and you're saying, let me get that splinter out of your eye. Let me just straighten you out. You know what it reminds me of? It reminds me of people who never go soul winning, saying to me, you know what, you're too abrasive with your soul winning method. You're turning people off. You shouldn't talk about hell. I mean, how do you go soul winning without talking about hell? I don't understand that. But they'll say, you're way too abrasive. You're turning people away. And you know, I always have the same answer, always the same answer. I say, you know what, I think you're right. Can you show me how you win people, Lord, so that I can do it right? Because I want to do it right. So you show me how you do it. And then, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, because they don't go soul winning. But they've got this big beam in their eye that says that they don't gather with Jesus, and therefore they're scattering abroad, Jesus said, by not being a soul winner. And yet they're always there to tell you what's wrong with your soul winning methods. I don't care what your soul winning methods like. Just be a soul winner. Because I'd rather be a soul winner that's a horrible soul winner that just does it all wrong than to be some guy who won't open his mouth for Jesus Christ ever and will never go soul winning and is scattering abroad instead of gathering with Jesus. But see here, don't let it stop and say, well, don't read this. This is the wrong interpretation. When you read this and say, well, I better not judge anybody because I'm so messed up myself. I mean, I've got this beam in my eye. I better not judge anybody. I mean, I should never preach a sermon. I mean, I should never preach a sermon, right? Because I've got so many problems myself. I'm talking about myself. I mean, I've got problems. I should never preach. I should never try to help somebody and tell them what they need to do because I'm so messed up, right? Well, now look. Look what the Bible says to do. He's saying, listen, hypocrite, the guy who's judging other people. Look at verse number five. It says, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the moat out of thy brother's eye. He says, look, don't throw up your hands and say, I should never preach. I should never judge anybody. I should never try to get people sad. I should never tell people what to do, you know, that, hey, look, that's wrong what you're doing because I'm such a sinner. He says, no, get the beam out of your eye and then you'll be able to see clearly to help somebody else get the moat out of their eye. So he's not saying don't judge. He's saying straighten yourself out first. Get your vineyard straightened up first. Straighten yourself out so that you can help somebody else get right. You see, cleaning up your vineyard is the only way you're ever going to be able to help anybody else, is when your vineyard's right. Now, I was thinking about this. I fly on airplanes all the time. I fly on airplanes like about two or three times a month. And so when I'm flying on the airplane, you know, the video that they play of the safety video and it's the same every time. And it tells you, this is one part of it that I liked. It says when the cabin pressure changes, the oxygen masks are going to fall down in front of you. And it says, first, put on your oxygen mask and then help people around you. Get their oxygen mask on. Don't try to get Junior's oxygen mask on. You don't have your oxygen mask on. You're going to pass out just trying to put his on and you've got to make sure that you're straight. Now, don't get me wrong. A lot of people say, like, yeah, you're going to have all your ducks in a row before you go soul winning. Oh, really? Is that why the woman at the well was going soul winning five minutes after she got saved? Is that why the Apostle Paul was going soul winning the same day he got saved? Yes, he spent three and a half years training to be a preacher. After that, he went to the wilderness and to Arabia and he learned some things from God, studied his Bible, but the whole time he was soul winning because he was soul winning the first day. But the whole point is he's not saying don't be a soul winner. He's not saying don't preach to God. He's not saying don't preach. He's saying get yourself right. He's saying constantly be working to keep your vineyard right. Straighten up your vineyard because your vineyard is the most important thing. Well, I was thinking about a whole other application because I just love that phrase. I mean, I've meditated on it just constantly. They made me the keeper of the vineyards, but my known vineyard I kept. Well, I was thinking about people who don't keep their own vineyard, people who don't pay their own way in life. I was thinking about people on welfare, and I want to say to the guy that's on food stamps, hey, you want food stamps? Keep your own vineyard. I'm tired of keeping your vineyard. I want to say to the illegal immigrants who live off the government and who are on welfare, who are taking all the services for free, hey, keep your own vineyard. I don't want to keep your vineyard. I want to say to the people who, you know, the baby mama that's on welfare in the ghetto who's got eight kids, illegitimately, from eight different fathers, hey, keep your own vineyard. I'm tired of paying for you. You know what the Bible says here? The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 3, 10, for even when we were with you, this week commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. You say when you drive down the road and you see a panhandler by the side of the road right here on baseline and 10 where they always stand there on the four corners there, do you in your Christian charity, do you reach into your wallet and pull out some money and give it to them? No, I don't. I'll tell you why. Because my Bible says that that rascal that's on the corner there, that able-bodied man that's standing on the corner there with his sign, anything helps, God bless. I want to tell you something, sir. Keep your vineyard. And if you don't want to work, then you shouldn't eat. I hope you starve to death because that's what God said. And you say, well, that's not compassionate. Well, then God's not compassionate because God said if a man won't work, he shouldn't eat. The whole purpose of food, the Bible says that people in the book of McLean, he actually talks about people who eat for drunkenness. It's like they eat food for pleasure, like people drink to get drunk. He says they eat for drunkenness. They just eat and eat and eat and eat and just gorge themselves. And he says they eat for drunkenness and not for strength. See, the purpose of food, what's the purpose of food? It's to get strength. The purpose of food is so that you can have the energy to work. The purpose of food. You know, a man would say, he said, I don't live to eat, I eat to live. Life is not about eating. Life is not about gratifying your flesh with food. You eat to live. You eat food so that you can have the strength to serve God, so that you can have the strength to work your job, so you can have the strength to get things done. That's the purpose of eating. And so if a man won't work, he shouldn't eat. Does that make sense? Because why would we feed him to sit on the street corner? Why would we feed him to go booze it up every night and get in fights down at the bar? Why would we feed him to stand by the street corner with a sign? It doesn't make any sense. There's a very logical God that says if he won't work, don't feed him. Don't give him any money. He needs to get to work. Well, raise your own children. Keep your own vineyard. We already kind of dealt with this, but you can't rely on church to raise your children. Let's face it. I don't want to raise your children. I'm keeping my vineyard here. And I can't raise your children three times a week. I mean, good night. It takes a lifetime. It takes a whole full-time job to raise children all the time. And it needs to be a priority. Children shouldn't be just some burden that are just kind of, oh, yeah, it's such a hassle dealing with all these kids and stuff. No, that's the purpose of your life is to raise these kids. That's the number one thing. It's not something that you just have to do. It's something that's what everything else in life is wrapped up in is to do that. That's the important thing. Well, good night. Don't rely on a daycare to raise your kids. If you rely on a daycare, it's going to be Sesame Street that's going to be raising your kids. It's going to be Barney and Friends that's going to be raising your kids. You must raise your kids. God didn't give your kids to Barney. God didn't give your kids to Bert and Ernie. God gave your kids to you because he thought that you were the greatest parent in the world for your kids. God gave those kids. Say, how do you know that? Well, because in Romans chapter 13 the Bible says, Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power that is not of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. And it talks about authority. It talks about how every authority figure is ordained by God. Wives, your husband is an authority that's been ordained by God for you. That's your authority that God gave you. Kids, your parents are your authority figure ordained by God. Your parents are the greatest parents in the world. Period. Why? Because God ordained them and said, Look, listen Andrew, I think you need a certain kind of parent so I'm going to decide, Okay, these are the parents I'm going to give you exactly what you need. You say, listen Solomon, I want you to turn out right for God so here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to give you these two parents. And I don't care who your parents are. You say, well my parents are ungodly. It doesn't matter. God has ordained your parents to raise you. That's why he gave you to them. Children are the heritage of the Lord, the Bible says. God is the one who decides what kids go to what parents. And he has a reason for doing it. And he didn't decide for you to go be raised down at the daycare center by somebody who does not love you like your parents love you. Who will not spank you like your parents spank you. Who will not spend time with you and train you and teach you the word of God. You say, well it's a Christian daycare. It is not who God gave your kids to. He gave your kids to you to raise your kids. Because he thought that you were the greatest parent. So if you want to give them to some second class parent then go ahead and drop them off at the daycare. But my kids are first class kids and I want them to have a first class upbringing. So they're going to be raised by the one that God said, this is who's going to raise the kids, this is who's going to raise them. Because I want them to be raised first class. You know, so many people, and I think this is the biggest problem with the Christian school movement. The biggest problem with the Christian school movement. Look friends, let's think for a minute. Back in the 1950's and 60's there were all kinds of great giant soul winning churches. All kinds of great men of God, great preachers in that generation. Where are they at now? There's not a lot. There's not a lot of great churches out there. There's not a lot of great preachers out there. Why? Because here's what happened. In the 1960's and 70's, the Christian school movement. Here's what happened. People started shipping their kids off to the Christian school and the problem with sending your kids to a Christian school is you think, well, they're in the Christian school. They're getting trained to the word of God every day. They're going to turn out right. And then the parents, what do they do? Their kids are in Christian school all day for seven, eight hours a day and then they get home from Christian school. Do you think that they want to sit down and have you teach them the word of God? After they just spent seven, eight hours in school? No. Well, they already got taught the word of God. But see, they're not getting taught the word of God by the parent like God has ordained in the Bible. The God said in Deuteronomy chapter 6, he used a singular verb, thou. He says, thou, he says these commandments, he says, thou shall teach them to thy children. Not you shall teach them to your children, plural. You know, ye shall teach them to your children. He says, thou shall teach them to thy children. You must teach your kids the word of God. I'll tell you something right now. I learned more good, sound Bible doctrine from my dad than I learned in the Christian school because I spent most of my life in Christian school. A few years in public school, but I grew up in Christian school. I learned more great doctrine from my dad because in the Christian school, I'm sitting there listening to a woman who is not keeping her own vineyard. You know, I had a woman teacher who her kids are in some other daycare, some other class that she could teach me and she's teaching me the word of God. She's not going to teach me like hardcore kind of doctrine. She's a woman who's not even raising her own kids and she just teaches me this little sugar-coated thing. Well, I'll tell you what, my dad taught me some great stuff out of the Bible. My dad opened the Bible many times and said, here, let me show you something, Steve, and that's the stuff that I live or die by. Not what I learned in the Christian school. It was boring. And so what happens is people send their kids to the Christian school and they say, well, the Christian school is going to make sure my kids are alive. How many times have I heard people say, I don't know what happened. I mean, we had the kids at Christian school and they went to the devil. You say, well, look, you need to make sure that your kids turn out right. I was thinking back to different churches that I'd grown up in and different youth groups that I'd been in, and I sat down and I looked at the list, and we're talking about, you know, this is like ten years ago. I looked at a youth group of, say, ten years ago. Just take a snapshot of the, you know, twenty-some kids that were in that youth group. And I went down the list, okay, you know, fornicating, kids out of wedlock, out of church, on drugs, homosexual, and I'm going down the list, and that's what it was pretty much like. And I thought of about four, you know, two to four people, kids that had turned out right, I mean, that were independent fundamental Baptist church and that were living for God, and it was amazing. Two of them were from the same family, and then the other one was their cousin. And I'm thinking to myself, it seems to me that the common denominator was more the family than the church. It was more the family than the Christian school, because I looked down the list and I thought, isn't it amazing, why are all the people that turned out right related? It was just this one family that turned out right, everybody else went to the devil. Well, because it's the parents' job to raise the kids, not some institution. This is not even mentioned in the Bible. It's not the church's job, although the church is ordained by God. It is the parents' job to raise the kids. You must take responsibility for your children and say, I will make it my job to make sure that these kids turn out right. I'm not expecting the teacher to do it. I'm not expecting the pastor to do it. I will do it myself. I will keep my own vineyard. It's vital. It's important. You say, why do you preach so much on that? Because it's so important. I need to preach it just to hear it myself, too. And I need to preach it so that everybody hears it, because it's the most important thing there could be. And let me tell you something. And by the way, let me tell you something. I was exposed to so much filth in the Christian school. I mean, I grew up in Christian school. I went to seven different Christian schools growing up. I went to public school, and I went to home school. I mean, I've ceased it all. And I'll tell you something. At Christian school, I had people offering me pornography. I had every kid in the class that was passing on videotapes of pornography in the Christian school. Just cussing. Just every kid in the Christian school had the filthiest, vile mouth. And I was just exposed to all that stuff. I remember drug usage. When I was in ninth grade, half the class got busted for smoking marijuana in Christian school. Rock music. There was no kid. I did not, literally, I don't know of one kid in the whole Christian school, of any Christian school that I went to. I can't even think of one kid. And I sat down to prepare, so I was thinking about it. Couldn't think of one kid that didn't listen to rock music. Not even one. And this is what they were listening to. When I was a teenager, when I was in Christian school, I wrote down the bands that I remember the kids that they loved and listened to. Green Day was the number one band that was listened to in the Christian school that I went to. And if anybody, I hope you don't even know who that is. It's the filthiest group you can imagine. Filthy sodomite, evil group. Offspring, Nirvana, who the lead singer, Kurt Cobain, killed himself. The Beastie Boys, totally ungodly group. You know, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg. These were the number one bands. These were the common denominators that every kid in the Christian school listened to. And I don't even want to mention this, but the sodomy going on in the Christian school. I'm talking about homosexuality in the Christian school ran rampant. It was insane. You would not believe it. And I'll be honest with you, I was exposed to a lot more garbage in the Christian school than I was in public school. I mean, it's sad to say. And yeah, the public school was an ungodly place and there was all kinds of ungodly stuff going on. But see, at least in the public school, you got 2,000 kids and I just did my own thing. You know, I found my crowd and I kind of hung around with them and I stayed away from the freaks and weirdos. But in Christian school, there's 20 kids in the class. And you are just with the reprobates all day long. And they've heard the gospel every day. They've rejected it. They hate God. Their parents are sending them there. Their parents have forced them to be there. And they're ungodly as hell and they'll just shove it down your throat. And I had to shove down my throat my whole life in the Christian school. You better watch out and keep your own vineyard. You better watch out and not rely on the Christian school to raise your kids. God help you if that's who's raising your kids. If you rely on church three times a week, it's not going to do it. You must raise your children. But let me move on from that. I was thinking about this story in John chapter 21. Turn there if you would. John chapter 21. And really you could boil this whole sermon down to just personal responsibility. Take responsibility for your own actions. Take responsibility for paying your own bills. Take responsibility for raising your own children. Take responsibility for the areas of life that God has given you. Look at John 21 and if you would, look at verse number 20. I love this statement that Jesus makes here. The Bible says, then Peter, this is John 21, 20. Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned on his breast at supper and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter, seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Listen to what Jesus says. Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. So if you know the story, Jesus has just prophesied to Peter and said, You are going to, because you refused to confess me before men, because you denied me three times, he says, you know, you wouldn't follow me, you wouldn't stay with me, but you forsook me, and I think we learned about this last week. You know, you cursed me out in front of the fire there, in front of people, so that they would think that you didn't know me and you wouldn't take a stand for me. And he says, you wouldn't follow me. He says, well, at the end of your life, Peter, he says, I know you're going to serve me, I know this, you're going to love me and feed my sheep and do everything for me, but he says, at the end of your life, Peter, people are going to take you and they're going to carry you, and you will, you are going to die for me, basically. He says, you wouldn't go willingly and give your life for me when the time came, but he says, there's going to come a time when people are going to take you and they're going to martyr you for my sake. Well, Peter, as the human nature would dictate, he sees John. And John was the other great disciple, probably the two greatest disciples in the Bible, John and Peter, that I mention a lot. And he looks at John and he says, well, what about him? What's going to happen to him? And Jesus says, what is that to thee? He says, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. Don't always worry about what other people are doing. Don't always worry about it. You say, well, you know, my wife doesn't live for God and she's holding me back. No. It's you follow me. You say, well, you know, my husband doesn't live right. He doesn't live for God. Look, follow thou me. You say, well, but none of my family is serious about the things. Follow thou me. And you say, well, wait a minute. It's not fair because I have these poor circumstances. Look at so and so. It's your perfect life. He's got the picket fence and everything's all laid down. It seems like he never has any financial problems. And it's just not fair, God, because look at all the problems that I have. I can't follow you like he can follow you. I can't follow you like she can follow you because I don't have their circumstances. God says, look, if I bless them, what is that to thee? Follow thou me. He says, look, John's not going to be martyred. John's not going to be killed for me. John is going to die of natural causes. But what is that to you? You are going to live the life that I plan for you. And you're going to be what I want you to be. Look, don't worry about what other people... You know, sometimes you look at people from the outside. Maybe they don't have it all together. Like maybe you wouldn't want to trade places with them. The grass is always green on the other side of the fence. And when you see somebody who's serving God and you say, well, they can serve God because of their background. They can serve God because of their circumstances. But woe is me. I have it so hard. Jesus says, look, what's it to you what's going on with somebody else? You keep the vineyard that I've given you. They keep their vineyard and you keep your vineyard. And God is saying, don't live other people's lives. Keep your own vineyard. Don't worry about what other people are doing. Keep your own vineyard. Don't always point the finger and say, well, so and so doesn't go so. Keep your own vineyard. You're only responsible for one person and that's you. You keep your own vineyard. And lastly, I want to say this. Turn, if you would, to Luke chapter 10, verse 38. This is my last point. Luke chapter 10, verse 38. And while you're turning to me, I'm going to read you this verse. Proverbs 4, 23, the Bible reads in Proverbs 4, 23. Keep thy heart, because we're talking about keeping your own vineyard. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. He's saying everything is wrapped up in how your heart is, is what he's saying. And you've got to keep your heart. You've got to guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Let me read this story for you. Luke chapter 10, and I want you to look at verse number 38. Luke 10, 38, the Bible reads, Now it came to pass as they went that he entered, this is Jesus, that he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister had left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful. And Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. What's he saying here? He's saying, look, keep your heart with all diligence. If you're living for God, you're constantly under attack. Let's face it. If you're doing anything for God, if you're trying to move forward in the Christian life, you're constantly being bombarded and attacked from all sides. And the devil wants to get to you, and he wants to get to your heart, because out of it are the issues of life. And he's going to try every way he can to get to your heart. So you've got to keep your heart right. You've got to keep it with all diligence. That's why it's so vital. As the story goes here, Martha here, she was serving God. She was working hard. She was sweating. She was struggling to get things done for God. And she was working so hard, and she said, look, Mary is not working near as hard as I am. You need to command her to do what I'm doing. And Jesus says, look, you're missing the point here. I'm Jesus Christ. I'm the Son of God. I'm only here for three and a half years. She is sitting at my feet. The Bible says Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus, just hanging on every word out of his mouth, just listening to him. And he says one thing is needful. She's chosen the better part by the spiritual part, the part of being close with God, the part of knowing God, the part of keeping your heart right, because here's the thing. You can go out and serve God, and you can serve God till you're blue in the face. But if your heart's not right, eventually your house of cards that you're building is going to come tumbling down. Eventually, if your heart's not right, the devil's going to get to you. And pretty soon you'll be totally out of the ministry. Pretty soon you'll be totally out of church. Pretty soon you'll be doing nothing for God. So you can say, well, oh, man, I'm going to do all this and do all this and do all this, but maybe not necessarily make Bible reading a priority. And I'm working hard, I'm serving God, I'm making money, I'm going soul-willing, but maybe, you know, studying God's Word is not a big priority. Maybe prayer is not a big priority. Maybe just your walk with God is kind of going by the way, because you're so busy serving God. Well, if you don't keep your heart with all diligence, if you don't constantly fellowship with God, constantly sitting at the feet of Jesus, constantly reading God's Word, constantly fellowshipping with Him, you're leaving just so wide open, and the devil's going to nail you. And, yeah, you worked pretty hard for two years maybe. You worked pretty hard for one year. I'm not trying to work hard for two years. I'm trying to work hard for a lifetime. I'm not trying to do some big thing and talk about what I used to do. I'm trying to live and serve God for a lifetime. And the way to serve God for a lifetime is to have the root way down deep in the Word of God, way down deep in my relationship with God. And then, yeah, I want to work. I want to serve God. But you'll out-serve the person in the long run who's not reading the Bible, who's not studying the Bible, who's not the spiritual person. You will out-serve them. You will out-work them because you're in it for life. You know, wives, don't get so busy serving your husband that you don't have fellowship with your husband, you know, that you don't love and have, you know, a bond with your husband, speaky talking to your husband and a friendship with your husband. You're so busy working for him. But, you know, same thing with your kids. You say, well, I'm constantly serving the kids. I'm changing the diapers. I'm cleaning them up. I'm feeding them. But have you taken the time to be with your children, you know? And so it's the same thing with God. God doesn't just want you out serving him and working for him. If you're not serving him and if you're not working for him, then you're not right with God. You're disobeying. But he says, be sure to spend time with me. Be sure to keep your heart right. Be sure to read my word. Be sure to keep your heart with all diligence. He said that's the thing you have to work on. That's where you have to have all the diligence is to keep your heart right. That's why it's so vital. Watch what comes into your heart through your eyes, through the television. You know, throw the television in the dumpster. Watch what comes into your ears through the television, through radio, through people talking ungodly. You know, you've got to guard yourself. You've got to constantly say, this is my computer right here and I'm going to make sure that nothing bad enters because I've learned one thing over the years. Things go in, but they don't come out. Things go into this computer right here, but they don't come out. They're always there. And so you've got to guard your heart. You've got to be careful what you expose yourself to. You've got to be careful what goes in. And you've got to be very careful to make sure that this is constantly going in. That this will constantly clean up your heart. This will constantly keep your heart right. Because if your heart is right, that's where you're going to serve God. That's where your vineyard's going to be kept. That's where the work's going to get done. Not just going out and putting on a big show, but where you personally, in the quiet of your own life, when nobody's around, you have that time where you sit at the feet of Jesus. That's what's vital. So just to sum up the whole thing, keep your own vineyard. Take care of your responsibilities. Don't worry so much about what everybody else is doing. Don't worry about helping everybody else at the expense of helping yourself. Put on your own oxygen mask before helping those around you. And keep your vineyard right at home. Keep it right in your family. Keep it right in your town. Keep it right at your job. And keep it right between you and God personally, just you and Him. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, I thank you so much that you even want to spend so much time with us, God, and that you would allow us to sudden it, and that you would allow us to sudden it, and that you would allow us to sudden it, and that you would allow us to sudden it.